SUTTON  E«  GRIGt 


148  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

its  greatness.  A  large  section  of  the  race  has 
left  the  habitat  and  environments  in  which  and 
because  of  which  it  grew  to  greatness,  and  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  United  States  finds  itself 
confronted  with  the  problem  of  maintaining  in 
warmer  climes  those  elements  of  a  greatness 
hitherto  found  only  in  the  colder  regions. 

"The  race  in  these  warmer  regions  took  firm 
hold  of  the  doctrine  of  a  foil,  a  something 
thrust  between  itself  and  the  sapping  influences 
of  weather,  sun  and  soil.  The  Negro  was  pressed 
into  service  as  that  foil.  He  was  to  stand  in  the 
open  and  bear  the  brunt  of  nature's  hammering, 
while  the  Anglo-Saxon,  under  the  shade  of  tree 
or  on  cool  veranda,  sought  to  keep  pace  with  his 
brother  of  the  more  invigorating  clime,  counting 
immunity  from  the  assaults  of  nature  and  supe- 
rior opportunities  for  reflection  as  factors  vital 
to  him  in  the  unequal  race  that  he  was  to  run. 

"Not  only  was  this  foil  deemed  necessary  to 
the  maintenance  of  the  intellectual  life  of  the 
South,  but  to  its  commercial  well  being  as  well; 
for  the  white  man  was  regarded  as  constitu- 
tionally unable  to  furnish  the  quality  of  phys- 
ical service  necessary  to  extract  from  the  earth 
sufficient  fruitage  to  have  the  South  hold  her  own 
commercially. 

"The  wealth  of  the  South,  because  of  a 
deep  seated  conviction  as  to  the  absolute 
need  of  a  foil  for  the  white  race  in  warm- 
er climes,  because  of  the  hardiness  of  the 
Negro's  frame,  his  docility,  his  habit  of 
cheerfulness  when  at  work,  his  largely  uncom- 
plaining nature,  his  conception  that  labor  condi- 
tions are  fixed,  his  individualism  leading  to  in- 
eptness  in  combining — these  qualities  the  wealth 
of  the  South  regards  as  ideal  for  the  services  of 


THE  TWO  PATHWAYS.  149 

capital,  and  Negro  labor  is  much  preferred  to 
that  of  chronically  discontented,  aspiring  and 
combining  whites. 

"The  capitalist  influence  would  have  the  Ne- 
gro treated  humanely,  would  give  him  industrial, 
moral  and  religious  training,  and  would  have  him 
enjoy  the  protection  of  the  law  that  he  might 
continue  in  the  South,  working  in  contentment 
and  with  efficiency  in  the  lower  forms  of  labor. 

"But  this  element  desires  that  the  Negro  play 
the  part  of  the  foil  and  accept  this  as  mainly  his 
mission  in  America.  It  has  scant  sympathy  with 
the  college  professor  and  the  political  agitator 
that  would  set  the  race  to  dreaming  very  largely 
of  higher  things.  The  element,  therefore,  that 
is  most  desirous  of  retaining  the  Negro  popula- 
tion and  seeks  to  make  the  race  satisfied  with 
its  present  habitat  is  for  the  very  reason  leading 
to  that  course,  thoroughly  opposed  to  making  a 
speciality  of  developing  all  there  is  in  the  Negro, 
so  that  the  development  that  this  element  stands 
for  is  assuredly  one  sided. 

"Opposed  to  the  element  that  is  half  friendly  to 
the  Negro  because  of  his  superior  qualities  as  a 
foil  and  commercial  asset,  are  the  white  indus- 
trial rivals  of  the  Negro,  whose  animosity  is 
whetted  by  their  conscious  inferiority  in  matters 
physical  to  this  son  of  the  tropics,  who  is  more 
nearly  at  home  under  southern  sky  than  are  the 
children  of  the  colder  regions. 

"The  industrial  rivals  of  the  Negro,  led  on  by 
those  who  would  exploit  race  prejudices  for  their 
profit  and  those  who  feel  that  grave  danger  lurks 
in  a  mixed  civilization,  keep  the  baser  passions  of 
the  people  so  inflamed  that  such  horrible  outrages 
take  a  place  that  the  future  often  seems  overshad- 
owed with  a  cloud  dark,  portentous  and  riftless. 


University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


'Princes    shall  come  out  of  Egypt;  Ethiopia  shall 
soon  stretch  out  her  hands  unto   God." 


THE 

HINDERED  HAND 


OR, 


THE  REIGN  OF  THE 
REPRESSIONS! 


SUTTON   E,   GRIGGS. 


THIRD    EDITION-REVISED, 


NASHVILLE,  TENN.: 

THE  ORION  PUBLISHING  COMPANY. 

1905. 


COPYKIGHTKD  BY 

THE  ORION  PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 

NASHVILLE,  TKNN. 

1905. 


DEDICATION. 

To  a  devoted  father,  of  rugged  strength  of  char- 
acter,   and,    withal,    pre-eminently    a    man 
of   peace,    and   to    a   loving   mother, 

ever  tender  and  serene  of  soul — 

To  these  twin  moulders  of  the  hearthside,  who 

have  ever  been  anxious  that  their  children 

should  contribute  naught  but  what  is 

good  to  the  world,  this  volume  is 

most  affectionately  dedicated 

by  their  son, 

THE  AUTHOR. 


(3) 


BOOKS  BY  SUTTON  E.  GRIGGS. 


"Imperium  In  Imperio." 
"Overshadowed." 

"Unfettered." 
"The  Hindered  Hand." 


(4) 


SOLEMNLY  ATTESTED. 


Upon  a  matter  of  such  tremendous  importance 
to  the  American  people  as  is  the  subject  herein 
treated,  it  is  perhaps  due  our  readers  to  let  them 
know  how  much  of  fact  disports  itself  through 
these  pages  in  the  garb  of  fiction. 

We  beg  to  say  that  in  no  part  of  the  book  has 
the  author  consciously  done  violence  to  conditions 
as  he  has  been  permitted  to  view  them,  amid 
which  conditions  he  has  spent  his  whole  life,  up 
to  the  present  hour,  as  an  intensely  absorbed  ob- 
server. 

If  in  any  of  these  pages  the  reader  comes  across 
that  which  puts  him  in  a  mood  to  chide,  may  the 
author  not  hope  that  the  wrath  aroused  be  not 
wasted  upon  the  inconsequential  painter,  but  di- 
rected toward  the  landscape  that  forced  the  brush 
into  his  hand,  stretched  the  canvas,  and  shouted 
in  irresistible  tones:  "Write!" 

Very  respectfully, 

SUTTON  E.  GRIGGS. 

Nashville,  Tenn.,  May,  1905. 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


BY  ROBERT  E.  BELL. 

Pages. 

"The  young  woman  looked  into  his  face" 20-21 

"Her  pretty  brown  eyes  nestling" 24-25 

"Name  me  as  I  was  named" .40-41 

"The  rock  battle  was  now  on" ...  .54-55 

"What  do  they  take  me  to  be" 86-87 

"What  have  you  done?" 108-109 

"Yer  air  jes'  a  plain,  orternary  liah" 114-115 

"Poor  Bud,  her  helpless  husband" 134-135 

"To  and  fro  the  two  men  swayed" 164-165 

"Is  it  a  crime  for  me?" 174-175 

"I  have  tellerphoned  'round  the  world" 184-185 

"She  made  a  flag  of  truce" 188-189 

"Don't  circumscribe  the  able,  noble  souls" 234-235 

"We  machine  men  in  the  South" 258-259 

"Ensal  bent  forward  and  kissed  Tiara" 290-291 


(6) 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

CHAPTER  I. 
OCCURRENCES    THAT   PUZZLE 11 

CHAPTER    II. 
HIS   FACE  WAS   HER  GUIDE 19 

CHAPTER  III. 
WHEREIN   FORESTA  FIRST  APPEARS • 24 

CHAPTER  IV. 
THE   WAYS   OF   A   SEEKER  AFTER  FAME 30 

CHAPTER  V. 
RATHER   LATE   IN    LIFE  TO   BE  STILL   NAMELESS 36 

CHAPTER  VI. 
FRIENDLY   ENEMIES 40 

CHAPTER  VII. 
OFFICERS    OF    THE     LAW .  . 53 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
A   MESSENGER   THAT  HESITATES , 82 

CHAPTER  IX. 
A   PLOTTER   IS   HE 37 

CHAPTER  X. 
ARABELLE    SEABRIGHT 72 

CHAPTER  XI. 
UNUSUAL   FOR  A    MAN 77 

CHAPTER  XII. 
A   HONEYMOON    OUT  OF   THE  USUAL   ORDER 82 

CHAPTER  XI IT. 
SHREWD   MKS.     CRAWFORD 88 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
ALENK   AMD    RAMON 94 

CHAPTER  XAr. 
UNEXPECTED   DEVELOPMENTS 99 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
AN  EAGER    SEARCHER 108 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
PECULIAR  DIVORCE    PROCEEDINGS.  .  : 113 

CHAPTER   XVII  I. 
MISTS   THAT   VANISH,  ,  117 


8  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XIX.  PAGE. 

THE  FUGITIVES   FLEE  AGAIN 122 

CHAPTER  XX. 
THE    BLAZE 129 

CHAPTER   XXI. 
PLANNING   TO  ACT * 1 38 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
THE   TWO   PATHWAYS 142 

CHAPTFK  XXIII. 
THEY  GRAPPLE 162 

CHAPTER    XXIV. 
OUT   OF   JOINT   WITH   HIS   TIMES 167 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
A  JOYFUL  FAREWELL .....         178 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 
GUS    MARTIN 182 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 
TIARA  MYSTIFIES   US    187 

CHAPTER  XX  V.I  1 1. 
POOR   FELLOW  ! 191 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 
A  REVELATION 195 

CHAPTER  XXX. 
MR.    A.    HOSTILITY 201 

CHAPTER    XXXI. 
TWO   OF   A   KIND 20G 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 
WORKING   AND   WAITING .*. 214 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 
BACK    IN   ALMAVILLE 220 

CHAPTER      XXXI      . 
A   GREAT   DAY   IN    COURT  .• 224 

CHAPTER   XXXV. 
EUNICE  !     EUNICE  ! 240 

CHAPTER   XXXVI. 
ENTHUSIASTIC    JOHN   BLUE ?52 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 
POSTPONING  HIS   SHOUT   OF   TRIUMPH 265 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 
HE   CANNOT,    BUT   HE  DOES ! 269 

CHAPTER   XXXIX. 
A    SON   OF   THE   NEW   SOUTH 276 

CHAPTER    XL. 
SORROW   AND    GLADNESS..  289 


TUNING  THE  LYRE. 


In  the  long  ago  when  the  earth  was  in  process 
of  formation,  it  must  have  been  that  those  forces 
of  nature  most  expert  in  the  fashioning  of  the 
beautiful  were  ordered  to  come  together  as  col- 
laborators and  give  to  the  world  Almaville! 

Journeying  toward  the  designated  spot,  they 
halted  on  the  outskirts  of  the  site  of  the  contem- 
plated city,  and  tossed  up  a  series  of  engirdling 
hills,  whose  slopes  and  crests  covered  with  verdure 
might  afford  in  the  days  to  come  a  beautiful  sight 
to  the  inhabitants  when  riding  forth  to  get  a  whiff 
of  country  air.  These  same  forces  of  nature,  evi- 
dently in  love  with  their  work,  arranged,  it  seems, 
for  all  the  beautiful  clouds  with  their  varying 
hues  to  pass  in  daily  review  over  the  head  of  the 
city  to  be  born. 

In  all  that  appertains  to.  physical  excellence 
Almaville  was  made  attractive,  and  somewhere, 
perhaps  behind  yon  hills,  the  forces  rested  until 
man  set  his  foot  upon  the  soil  and  prepared  to 
build.  They  so  charged  the  air  and  all  the  en^ 
vironments  with  the  spirit  of  the  beautiful,  that 
the  men  whq  later  wrought  in  building  the  city 
found  themselves  the  surprised  and  happy  crea-r 
tors  of  a  lovely  habitation, 

(9) 


10  TUNING  THE  LYRE. 

On  an  eminence  crowning  the  center  of  the 
area  whereon  the  city  is  planted,  the  State  has 
builded  its  capitol,  and  from  the  tower  thereof 
one  can  see  the  engaging  network  of  streets,  con- 
template the  splendid  architecture  of  the  build- 
ings, and  gaze  upon  the  noble  trees  that  boldly 
line  the  sidewalks,  and  thus  testify  that  they  are 
not  afraid  of  civilization. 

Even  in  the  matter  of  climate  Almaville  is 
highly  favored,  it  would  seem.  Her  summers  are 
not  too  hot  nor  her  winters  too  cold,  and  many  a 
fevered  brow  finds  solace  in  her  balmy  breezes. 

The  war  gods  saw  and  admired  her,  and  de- 
creed that  one  of  the  famous  battles  of  the  Civil 
War  should  be  fought  within  her  environs,  that 
their  memory  might  ever  be  cherished  here. 

Philanthropy,  it  seems,  singled  out  Almaville 
for  special  attention,  granting  unto  her  oppor- 
tunities for  learning  that  well  might  cause  proud 
Athens  to  touch  her  crown  to  see  that  it  was  still 
there  and  had  not  been  lifted  by  her  modern  rival. 

A  murky  river  runs  through  Almaville  and  a 
dark  stream  flows  through  the  lives  of  all  of  us 
who  dwell  upon  its  banks,  But  yonder!  yonder! 
is  the  ocean!  Where? 

THE  AUTHOR, 


THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

CHAPTER  I. 


Occurrences  That  Puzzle. 

0  THE  pagan  yet  remaining  in  man 
it  would  seem  that  yon  railroad  train 
plunging  toward  the  Southland  is 
somehow  conscious  of  the  fact  that  it 
is  playing  a  part  in  events  of  tremendous  im- 
port, for  observe  how  it  pierces  the  darkness  with 
its  one  wild  eye,  cleaves  the  air  with  its  steely 
front  and  causes  wars  and  thunders  to  creep  into 
the  dreams  of  the  people  by  whose  homes  it 
makes  its  midnight  rush. 

Well,  this  train  now"  moving  toward  Alma- 
ville,  queen  city  of  the  South,  measured  by  the 
results  that  developed  from  that  night's  journey, 
is  fully  entitled  to  all  its  fretting  and  fuming, 
brag  and  bluster  of  steam  and  smoke,  and  to  its 
wearisome  jangle  of  clanging  bell  and  shrieking 
whistle  and  rumbling  wheel. 

It  was  summer  time.  A  Negro  porter  passing 
through  a  coach  set  apart  for  white  passengers 
noted  the  fixedness  with  which  a  young  woman 
with  a  pretty  face  and  a  pair  of  beautiful  blue 
eyes  was  regarding  him.  Her  head  was  inclined 
to  one  side,  her  hand  so  supporting  her  face  that 
a  prettily  shaped  ear  peeped  out  from  between 

00 


12  THE    HINDERED    HAND. 

her  fingers.  In  the  look  of  her  eye  there  was  a 
slight  suggestion  of  immaturity,  which,  however, 
was  contradicted  by  the  firm  outlines  of  her 
face.  As  the  porter  drew  near  her  seat  she  sig- 
nificantly directed  her  look  to  a  certain  spot  on 
the  car  floor,  thence  to  the  eyes  of  the  porter. 

Having  in  mind  the  well  understood  dictum  of 
the  white  man  of  the  South  that  the  Negro  man 
and  the  white  woman  are  to  be  utterly  oblivious 
of  the  existence  of  each  other,  this  Negro  porter 
was  loth  to  believe  that  the  young  woman  was 
trying  surreptitiously  to  attract  his  attention, 
and  he  passed  out  of  the  coach  hurriedly.  In  a 
short  while  he  returned  and  again  noted  how  in- 
tently the  young  woman  regarded  him.  This 
time  he  observed  that  she  had  evidently  been 
weeping  and  that  there  was  a  look  of  hopeless 
sorrow  in  her  eyes.  Again  the  young  woman 
looked  at  him,  then  upon  the  floor  and  up  at  him 
once  more.  The  porter  looked  down  upon  the 
spot  indicated  by  her  look,  saw  a  note,  stooped 
and  picked  it  up.  He  returned  to  the  coach  or 
rather  to  the  end  of  a  coach,  set  apart  for  Ne- 
groes, took  a  rear  seat  and  surveyed  the  car  pre- 
paratory to  reading  the  note  which  the  young 
woman  plainly  indicated  was  for  him. 

"I  don't  want  white  girls  passing  me  notes," 
thought  the  Negro,  clutching  the  note  tightly  and 
continuing  to  glance  about  the  coach  in  a  half- 
frightened  manner.  He  arose  to  hoist  the  window 
by  which  he  sat.  intending  to  utilize  it  to  be 


OCCURRENCES  THAT  PUZZLE.  13 

rid  of  the  note  in  case  the  occasion  should 
demand  it.  His  fears  had  begun  to  suggest  to 
him  that  perhaps  some  white  man  had  noticed 
his  taking  cognizance  of  the  young  woman's  ef- 
forts to  attract  his  attention. 

As  the  Negro  section  of  the  coach  was  the  for- 
ward section  and  next  to  the  baggage  ear,  any 
person  coming  from  the  section  set  apart  for  the 
whites  would  be  to  the  back  of  the  Negro  pas- 
sengers. The  porter  therefore  changed  his  seat, 
going  forward  and  taking  a  position  where  he 
would  be  facing  any  one  coming  from  the  coach 
for  whites.  He  raised  the  window  by  which  he 
sat  and  his  eye  wandered  out  into  the  darkness 
amid  the  sombre  trees  that  went  speeding  along, 
and  there  arose  to  haunt  him  mental  visions  of  a 
sea  of  angry  white  faces  closing  around  some 
one  dark  face,  perhaps  guilty  and  perhaps  inno- 
cent; and  as  he  thought  thereon  he  shuddered. 
He  felt  sorely  tempted  to  toss  the  note  out  of  the 
window  unread,  but  remembering  the  pleading 
look  on  the  face  of  the  young  woman  he  did  not 
follow  the  promptings  of  his  fear. 

"In  case  of  trouble,  this  crew  in  here  couldn't 
help  a  fellow  much,"  said  the  porter,  moving  his 
eyes  about  slowly  again,  taking  note  one  by  one  of 
those  in  the  section  with  him.  There  was  the 
conductor,  who  though  a  white  man,  seemed  al- 
ways to  prefer  to  sit  in  the  section  set  apart  for 
the  Negroes.  There  was  the  newsboy,,  also  white, 
taking  up  two  seats  with  his  wares. 


14  THE    HINDERED    HAND. 

"As  well  as  they  know  me  they  would  go  with 
the  other  gang.  A  white  man  is  a  white  man, 
and  don't  you  forget  it/'  mused  the  porter. 

There  were  two  male  passengers  sitting  to- 
gether, Negroes,  one  of  whom  was  so  light  of 
complexion  that  he  could  easily  have  passed  for 
white,  while  the  other  was  of  a  dark  brown  hue. 

"A  fine  looking  fellow,"  thought  the  porter  con- 
cerning the  dark  young  man. 

Across  the  aisle  from  the  two  young  men  men- 
tioned, and  a  seat  or  so  in  advance  of  them,  sat 
a  young  woman  whose  face  was  covered  with 
a  very  thick  veil.  The  perfect  mould  of  her 
shoulders,  the  attractiveness  of  her  wealth  of 
black  hair  massed  at  the  back  of  her  head — these 
things  were  demanding,  the  porter  noticed,  many 
an  admiring  glance  from  the  darker  of  the  two 
young  men. 

The  porter  seemed  about  to  forget  his  note 
in  observing  with  what  regularity  the  young 
man's  eyes  would  wander  off  and  straightway  re- 
turn to  rest  upon  the  beautiful  form  of  the  young 
woman,  but  an  incident  occurred  that  brought  his 
mind  back  very  forcibly  to  the  note.  The  door 
from  the  section  for  the  whites  opened  and  two 
white  men  entered. 

The  porter's  hand  in  which  the  note  was  held 
cautiously  crept  toward  the  open  window,  while 
he  eyed  the  two  white  men  whom  he  feared  had 
come  to  accuse  him  of  an  attempted  flirtation 
with  a  young  white  woman.  One  of  the  men 


OCCURRENCES  THAT  PUZZLE.  15 

reached  behind  to  his  hip  pocket  and  the  porter 
half  arose  in  his  seat,  throwing  up  his  hands  in 
alarm,  expecting  a  pistol  to  appear  to  cover  him. 
The  white  man  was  simply  drawing  out  a  flask 
of  whiskey  to  offer  his  companion  a  drink. 

Ensal  Ellwood,  the  dark  young  man,  looking 
around  to  see  if  the  parties  who  had  entered  had 
closed  the  door  behind  them  (for  the  adjoining- 
section  was  the  white  people's  smoking  apart- 
ment, and  care  had  to  be  exercised  to  keep  smoke 
and  tobacco  fumes  out),  saw  the  two  white  men 
about  to  take  a  drink.  He  arose  quickly  and  ad- 
vancing to  the  two  men,  said  quietly,  urbanely 
and  yet  with  an  air  of  firmness, 

"Gentlemen,  the  law  prescribes  that  this  coach 
shall  be  used  exclusively  by  Negro  passengers 
and  we  must  ask  that  you  do  not  make  our  first- 
class  apartment  a  drinking  room  for  the  whites." 

The  two  men  stared  at  Ensal  and  he  looked, 
them  frankly  in  the  face  that  they  might  see  that 
in  a  dignified  manner  he  would  insist  to  the  last 
upon  the  rights  of  the  Negro  passengers.  The 
justness  of  Ensal's  request,  his  unostentatious, 
manly  bearing  had  the  desired  effect.  The  two 
men  quietly  turned  about  and  left  the  car. 

The  porter  who  had  been  standing  during  this 
little  scene  now  sat  down,  opened  the  note  and 
read  as  follows: 

"MR.  PORTER:  When  this  train  is  within  a 
fifteen  minutes'  run  of  Almaville  please  pass 
through  this  coach  and  so  announce.  Then  stand 


16  THE   HINDERED   HAND. 

on  the  platform  leading  from  this  coach  to  the 
coach  in  which  the  Negroes  have  their  section. 
"FROM  THE  GIRL  THAT  LOOKED  AT  You." 

The  first  part  of  this  request  the  porter  con- 
cluded to  comply  with,  but  he  registered  all  sorts 
of  vows  to  the  effect  that  he  would  never  be 
found  waiting  on  any  platform  for  any  white 
girl.  He  murmered  to  himself. 

"My  young  lady,  you  may  sign  yourself,  'From 
the  girl  that  looked  at  you ;'  but  with  all  due  re- 
spect my  signature  is  'The  boy  that  wasn't 
there/  " 

Again  he  looked  out  of  the  window  at  the  same 
sombre  trees  and  into  the  gloom  of  their  shadows, 
and  he  put  his  hand  in  his  collar  as  though  it 
was  already  too  tight. 

"No,  my  God!"  he  said  softly.  Tearing  the 
note  to  shreds,  he  fed  it  to  the  winds,  lowered 
the  window  and  began  to  whistle. 

When  the  train  was  in  the  designated  distance 
of  Almaville  the  porter  entered  the  coach  for 
whites  in  which  sat  the  young  woman  who  wrote 
the  note,  "Fifteen  minutes  and  the  train  pulls 
into  Almaville,"  he  exclaimed,  as  he  walked  the 
aisle  in  an  opposite  direction  to  that  desired  by 
the  young  woman.  She  at  once  understood  and 
saw  that  she  must  depend  upon  herself. 

The  fragile,  beautiful  creature  arose  and  by 
holding  to  the  ends  of  the  various  seats  staggered 
to  the  door.  She  opened  it  and  by  tenacious 
clinging  to  the  iron  railings  on  the  platform 


OCCURRENCES  THAT  PUZZLE.  17 

managed  to  pull  herself  across  to  the  adjoining 
coach.  Passing  through  the  smoker  for  the  white 
men  she  entered  the  Negro  section.  With  a  half 
stifled  sob  she  threw  herself  into  the  lap  of  the 
Negro  girl  and  nestled  her  face  on  her  shoulder. 

The  young,  woman  from  the  coach  for  the 
whites  now  tossed  back  the  veil  of  the  Negro 
girl  and  the  two  girls  kissed,  looking  each  other 
in  the  eyes,  pledging  in  that  kiss  and  in  that  look, 
the  unswerving,  eternal  devotion  of  heart  to 
heart  whatever  the  future  might  bring.  The 
young  woman  now  slowly  turned  away  and  went 
toward  the  coach  whence  she  came,  assisted  by 
the  wondering  conductor. 

From  large  dark  eyes  whose  great  native  beau- 
ty was  heightened  by  that  tender  look  of  the  soul 
that  they  harbored,  the  Negro  girl  stood  watch- 
ing her  visitor  depart.  The  grace  of  her  form 
that  was  somewhat  taller  and  somewhat  larger 
than  that  of  the  average  girl,  stamped  her  as  a 
creature  that  could  be  truthfully  called  sublimely 
beautiful,  thought  Ensal.  Whatever  complexion 
on  general  principles  Ensal  thought  to  be  the 
most  attractive,  he  was  now  ready  to  concede  that 
the  delicate  light  brown  color  of  this  girl  could 
not  be  surpassed  in  beauty. 

If,  incredulous  as  to  the  accuracy  of  the  esti- 
mate of  her  beauty  forced  upon  one  at  the  first 
glance,  an  effort  was  made  to  analyze  that  face 
and  study  its  parts  separately,  each  feature  was 
seen  to  have  a  beauty  all  its  own. 


18  THE    HINDERED    HAND. 

"So  sweet  and  beautiful  a  face  and  so  lovely  a 
form  could  only  have  been  handed  to  a  soul  of 
whom  they  are  not  even  worthy,"  thought  Ensal. 

A  sober  look  was  in  Ensal's  eye  and  some  kind 
o?  a  mad  gallop  was  in  his  heart.  There  was 
more  than  soberness  in  the  blue  eyes  of  Earl 
Bluefield,  Ensal's  companion.  When  Ensal  looked 
around  at  his  friend  he  was  astonished  at  the  ter- 
ribly bitter  look  on  his  face. 

The  train  emptied  a  number  of  its  passengers 
and  rushed  on  and  on  and  on,  as  if  fleeing  from 
the  results  to  be  anticipated  from  its  deposit  of 
new  and  strange  forces  into  the  life  of  AlmaviJle. 


CHAPTER  II. 


His  Face  Was  Her  Guide. 

HIS  is  a  rich  man's  war  and  a  poor 
man's  fight."  Such  is  said  to  have 
been  the  character  of  the  sentiment 
that  was  widespread  in  the  ranks  of 
the  Confederate  army  during  the  late  Civil  War. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  very  evident  that  the 
highest  interest  of  the  "poor  whites"  who  bore 
the  brunt  of  the  fighting  was  to  be  conserved  by 
the  collapse  rather  than  the  triumph  of  the  cause 
for  which  they  fought  with  unsurpassed  gal- 
lantry. For,  with  the  downfall  of  the  system  of 
enforced  labor,  the  work  of  the  world  became  an 
open  market,  and  the  dignity  of  labor  being  re- 
stored, the  "poor  whites"  had  both  a  better  oppor- 
tunity and  a  more  congenial  atmosphere  to  begin 
their  rise.  Thus  the  stars  in  their  courses  fought 
for  the  "poor  whites"  in  fighting  bitterly  against 
them. 

At  one  time  the  Negroes  of  the  cities  of  the 
South  had  almost  a  monoply  of  the  work  of  trans- 
ferring passengers  and  baggage  to  and  from  the 
depots,  but  white  men  organized  transfer  com- 
panies, placed  white  agents  on  the  incoming 
trains  to  solicit  patronage,  employed  white  men 

(19) 


20  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

to  drive  the  transfer  wagons  and  thus  largely 
wrested  the  business  from  the  hands  of  the  Ne- 
groes. But  the  Negroes  would  yet  drive  up  to 
the  station,  hoping  for  some  measure  of  success 
in  the  spirited  contests  that  would  arise  in  at- 
tempts to  capture  such  gleanings  as  the  ad- 
vance agents  of  the  transfer  companies  had  left 
behind. 

So,  when  the  train  on  which  we  rode  into  Alma- 
ville  poured  its  stream  of  passengers  upon  the 
platform  of  the  car  shed  and  they  had  ascended 
the  steps  to  the  depot  platform,  they  were  greeted 
with  a  series  of  shouts  from  the  Negro  hackmen 
and  expressmen  standing  at  the  edge  of  the  plat- 
form, the  preponderance  of  the  chances  against 
them  lending  color  to  their  cries. 

Ensal  Ellwood  and  Earl  Bluefield  boarded  a 
street  car,  while  the  Negro  girl  who  had  occupied 
the  coach  with  them,  not  knowing  anything  about 
the  city,  went  in  the  direction  of  the  clamoring 
hackmen,  hoping  that  some  one  of  them  might 
tell  her  where  she  could  find  proper  entertain- 
ment for  the  night.  As  she  drew  near,  the 
line  of  hackmen  bent  forward,  with  hands  out- 
stretched for  traveling  bags,  each  man  eyeing  her 
intently  as  if  hoping  that  the  character  of  the 
look  bestowed  upon  her  might  influence  her 
choice.  One  man  pulled  off  his  hat,  hoping  to 
impress  her  with  a  mark  of  respect  not  exhibited 
by  the  others.  The  remainder  of  the  hackmen 
quickly  pulled  off  their  hats,  determined  that  no 


"The  young  woman  looked  into  his  face  and  recoiled." 

(20-21.) 


HIS  FACE  WAS  HER  GUIDE.  21 

one  should  have  the  advantage.  The  young  wom- 
an tossed  back  her  veil  that  she  might  see  the  bet- 
ter. 

A  young  man  better  dressed  than  the  hackmen 
was  standing  behind  them.  The  moment  he 
caught  sight  of  the  young  woman's  astonishingly 
beautiful  face  he  pushed  through  the  crowd, 
walked  rapidly  to  her  side,  gently  took  hold  of  her 
satchel,  and  said  quietly,  "You  will  go  with  me. 
I  will  see  you  properly  cared  for." 

The  young  woman  looked  into  his  face  and  re- 
coiled. His  tone  was  respectful  and  there  was 
nothing  affronting  in  his  look  or  demeanor,  yet 
the  young  woman  felt  utterly  repelled. 

"That's  right,  lady.  Don't  go  with  him.  Go 
with  any  of  the  rest  of  these  men  in  preference 
to  him,"  said  a  genial  faced  young  man,  slightly 
below  medium  height,  rather  corpulent  and  very 
dark. 

The  young  woman  looked  in  his  direction  and 
was  favorably  impressed  with  his  open,  frank 
expression. 

"I'll  trust  myself  to  your  care,"  said  she,  pull- 
ing away  from  the  well  dressed  young  man. 

Leroy  Crutcher,  for  such  was  his  name,  cast  a 
look  of  malignant  hatred  at  Bud  Harper,  the  suc- 
cessful hackman  and  muttered  something  under 
his  breath.  He  also  scowled  at  the  young  woman 
whose  utter  disdain  of  him  had  cut  him  to  the 
quick. 


22  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

"I  will  get  even  with  the  pair  of  them,  if  it 
takes  me  the  balance  of  my  life,"  said  Leroy 
Crutcher  to  the  group  of  hackmen,  after  Bud 
Harper  and  the  young  woman  had  driven  away. 

The  men  looked  at  him  in  sullen,  contemptuous 
silence,  loathing  and  yet  dreading  him  more  than 
they  did  a  serpent,  for  he  conducted  a  house  of 
ill-repute  for  the  exclusive  use  of  white  men 
and  Negro  girls,  and,  being  diligent  in  en- 
deavoring to  bring  to  his  home  any  and  all  Ne- 
gro girls  to  whom  his  white  patrons  might  take 
a  fancy,  had  great  influence  with  this  element 
of  whites. 

Noting  the  indisposition  of  the  men  to  talk  to 
him,  and  rightly  interpreting  their  contemptuous 
silence,  Crutcher  drew  from  his  pocket  a  wallet 
full  of  greenbacks.  Taking  out  as  many  one  dol- 
lar bills  as  there  were  hackmen,  he  threw  them  on 
the  platform  and  said,  "I  am  a  gentleman,  my- 
self. Money  talks  these  days.  Help  yourselves, 
gentlemen." 

The  men  did  not  look  at  the  money.  Each  one 
returned  to  his  vehicle  and  journeyed  to  his  hum- 
ble home,  leaving  Crutcher  alone  upon  the  plat- 
form. If  the  hackmen  had  taken  his  money  it 
would  have  served  as  proof  to  him  that  they 
were  no  better  than  he,  that  they  were  not  in  a 
business  like  his  simply  because  they  lacked  his 
skill  and  finesse. 

The  action  of  the  hackmen  intensified  his  re- 
sentment at  the  treatment  accorded  him  by  Bud 


HIS  FACE  WAS  HER  GUIDE.  23 

Harper  and  the  young  woman,  and,  meditating 
vengeance,  he  now  walked  toward  his  den  of  in- 
famy where  his  mother  had  reigned  in  her  day 
and  where  he  was  born  of  a  white  father. 

The  human  race  has  not  thus  far  even  ap- 
proached the  point  of  constructing  such  habita- 
tions as  would  render  mankind  indifferent  to 
rumblings  underground,  nor  has  society  such  se- 
cure foundation  that  it  can  think  lightly  of  its 
lower  elements. 

In  the  long  run  the  LeRoy  Crutchers  will  be 
heard  from.  It  is  inevitable. 


CHAPTER  III. 


Wherein  Foresta  First  Appears. 

HEN  the  young  woman  who  had  com- 
mitted herself  to   Bud   Harper's   care 
awoke    the    next     morning     she     saw 
standing  near  her  a  tall,  slender,  Ne- 
gro girl,  of  a  dark  brown  complexion. 

"My  name  is  Foresta,"  said  the  girl,  showing 
the  tips  of  her  beautiful  white  teeth.  Her  lips 
were  thin,  her  nose  prettily  chiseled,  her  skin 
smooth,  her  brow  high,  her  head  covered  with  an 
ample  supply  of  jet  black  hair.  "Excuse  me, 
please,"  said  Foresta,  "but  mama  told  me  to 
tell  you  that  breakfast  would  soon  be  ready." 

Foresta  having  delivered  her  message,  for 
which  she  was  thanked,  did  not  at  once  turn  to 
leave.  Her  pretty  brown  eyes  nestling  under 
equally  pretty  eyebrows,  looked  lovingly  into  the 
stranger's  face.  Without  saying  more,  however, 
Foresta  left  the  room.  A  little  later  she  brought 
the  young  woman's  breakfast,  clearing  the  cen- 
ter table  to  make  room  for  it. 

"We  eat  in  the  kitchen.     It  is  mighty  warm  in 
there,  though,  in  the  summer  time  with  fire  in  the 
(24) 


"Her  pretty  brown  eyes,    nestling    under  equally  pretty 
eyebrows,  looked  lovingly  into  the  stranger's  face." 
(24-25.) 


WHEREIN  FORESTA  FIRST  APPEARS.  25 

stove.  We  thought  we  would  do  a  little  better 
by  you  than  that,"  said  Foresta  apologetically. 
She  sat  down  to  keep  the  young  woman's  com- 
pany while  the  latter  was  eating. 

"That  was  Bud  Harper  that  brought  you  here 
last  night,"  said  Foresta,  unable  to  repress  a 
smile  over  some  pleasing  thought  that  was  pass- 
ing through  her  mind. 

The  young  woman  looked  up  from  her  break- 
fast. "  My!"  she  said,  "Your  eyes  are  pretty. 
They  are  such  a  lovely  brown." 

"I'll  swap  hair  with  you,"  said  Foresta,  feeling 
of  her  own  hair  and  looking  admiringly  at  the 
wealth  of  beautiful  black  hair  on  the  young 
woman's  head. 

"You  would  cheat  yourself.  Your  hair  isn't 
as  long  as  mine,  but  it  is  so  black  and  lovely,"  said 
the  young  woman. 

Looking  at  Foresta  from  head  to  foot,  plainly 
but  neatly  dressed,  the  young  woman  remarked, 
"You  are  a  pretty  girl,  Foresta — and  a  good  girl" 
pausing  between  the  former  and  the  latter  com- 
plimentary reference. 

Foresta's  kindly  face  lighted  up  with  joy  at 
the  compliment.  For  some  time  she  had  felt, 
without  knowing  what  it  was  that  she  felt,  the 
need  of  a  confidante — some  one  with  a  fellow-feel- 
ing to  whom  she  could  talk. 

"Something  funny  happened  once  about  Bud 
Harper  and " 


26  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

"Yourself,"  said  the  young  woman,  with  a 
sweet,  knowing  look. 

"Yes,"  admitted  Foresta  with  a  light  laugh, 
pleased  that  the  young  woman  was  entering  so 
readily  into  the  spirit  of  the  recital.  "Bud  had 
a  brother  Dave  that  looked  just  like  him,"  said 
Foresta.  "Almost,  I  mean,"  she  added,  remem- 
bering that  nobody  was  to  be  put  on  a  level  with 
Bud.  "Poor  Dave  is  dead  now,"  she  said  in  sad 
tones,  looking  the  young  woman  fully  in  the  face 
as  if  making  a  further  study  of  her. 

Satisfied  with  the  result  of  the  inspection,  For- 
esta now  said  in  a  confidential  tone :  "Dave  died 
in  the  penitentiary.  He  and  a  white  man  got  in 
a  fight.  Dave  killed  him  in  self-defense.  Dave 
could  have  come  clear,  but  it  wouldn't  have  done 
riiiy  good.  He  would  have  been  lynched.  His 
lawyers  advised  him  to  take  a  twenty  years'  sen- 
tence to  satisfy  the  clamor,  and  said  they  wrere 
sure  they  could  get  him  a  pardon.  All  of  Dave's 
friends  thought  it  was  better  to  take  his  chances 
with  a  good  governor  rather  than  a  mob." 

Foresta's  eyes  now  filled  with  tears.  "It  did 
hurt  poor  Dave  so  to  go  to  the  penitentiary.  He 
was  such  a  good-hearted  boy.  He  died  there  in 
about  a  year  and  a  half.  It  may  be  he's  better 
off."  Foresta  now  paused  an  instant.  Shaking 
off  the  spell  of  sadness  she  said,  "But  that's  not 
what  I  started  out  to  tell  you." 

"I  know  it  isn't,"  said  the  young  woman,  smil- 
ing sadly. 


WHEREIN  FORESTA  FIRST  APPEARS.  27 

"Don't  be  too  sure  you  know  what  I  have  to 
tell,"  said  Foresta,  laughing.  "It  is  really  some- 
thing funny." 

"I  am  listening,"  said  the  young  woman. 

"One  night  Bud  went  to  church  with  me.  You 
know  our  church  is  called  the  'high  falutin' 
church/  and  a  good  many  of  the  poorer  and  plain 
people  don't  like  to  go  there.  "Well,  Bud  isn't  a 
highly  educated  boy  and  he  doesn't  like  our 
church  for  anything.  He  likes  the  preacher  all 
right.  He  will  hardly  ever  go  in  and  sit  with 
me.  He  walks  about  out  doors  till  church  is  out, 
then  comes  back  home  with  me.  You  are  tired 
listening  to  my  foolishness,  aren't  you?"  asked 
Foresta. 

"Not  at  all.  I  am  interested,"  said  the  young 
wToman  reassuringly. 

"Well,  Bud  is  a  sort  of  a  bashful  boy.  Dave 
was  just  the  opposite.  Dave  was  full  of  nerve. 
Bud  kept  a  'hemming  and  hawing'  trying  to,  try- 
ing to  er — 

"Well,  just  say  that  he  was  trying  to,"  said  the 
young  woman,  and  the  two  laughed  heartily. 

"Dave  kept  after  Bud  to  speak  out,  but  Bud 
was  afraid  that  he  would  spoil  matters,"  resumed 
Foresta.  "They  rigged  up  a  scheme  to  find  out 
where  I  stood  without  Bud's  risking  too  much. 
Now,  remember,  Bud  and  Dave  looked  just  alike, 
almost.  Many  a  time  I  have  taken  one  for  the 
other.  When  little  they  often  got  scolded  and 
beaten  for  one  another.  Their  father  never  could 


28  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

tell  them  apart.  Bud  came  to  church  with  me 
one  night,  and  he  and  Dave  agreed  that  Dave  was 
to  carry  me  home  without  my  knowing  it  was 
Dave.  Dave  was  to  make  out  that  he  was  Bud 
and  make  a  dash  of  some  sort  to  find  out  how  Bud 
stood  with  me.  On  our  way  home  Dave  didn't 
talk  much.  That  helped  to  fool  me,  because  Bud 
and  I  have  gone  along  not  saying  a  word;  only 
looking  at  each  other  now  and  then.  But  that 
night  Dave,  whom  I  was  taking  to  be  Bud,  was 
unusually  quiet.  And  I  thought  then  that  he  was 
meditating  something.  When  Dave  got  home 
with  me,  he  stood  between  me  and  the  gate  and 
said,  'You  must  pay  toll  to  get  in.'  I  knew  he 
was  asking  me  to  kiss  him.  'If  you  don't  let  me 
by  I  will  call  mama/  I  said,  mostly  for  fun,  for 
I  knew  that  Bud  thought  mama  was  against 
him.  You  ought  to  have  seen  Dave  stepping  aside 
to  let  me  in.  I  didn't  say  another  word,  but 
walked  into  the  yard  and  upon  the  porch.  I 
knocked.  Mama  came  and  unlocked  the  door 
and  went  back.  'Good  night/  said  I.  But  Dave 
wouldn't  move.  He  was  so  afraid  that  he  had 
spoiled  things  for  Bud.  I  stood  there  and  thought 
a  while.  It  came  to  me  that  it  might  not  be  wise 
to  treat  Bud's  first  attempt  to  say  what  I  was 
willing  for  him  to  sayj  too  coolly.  And  yet  I 
didn't  want  to  appear  too  anxious.  You  know 
what  I  mean,"  said  Foresta  appealingly. 

*T  understand  you,  perfectly,  though  my  time 
hasn't  come  yet,"  said  the  young  woman. 


WHEREIN  FORESTA  FIRST  APPEARS.  21) 

"So  I  stood  on  the  porch,"  continued  Foresta, 
"looking  away  from  Dave,  thinking  and  think- 
ing how  I  could  save  myself  and  not  hurt 
Bud  too  much.  Womanlike,  I  suppose,  I 
decided  to  make  a  sacrifice  of  myself.  I 
opened  my  door  a  little.  Quick  as  a  flash,  but 
so  he  could  plainly  see  what  I  was  doing,  I  threw 
a  kiss  and  darted  in  the  house.  Dave  fairly*  flew 
to  where  Bud  was  waiting  for  him.  Dave  told 
Bud  all  about  it  and  the  two  boys  liked  to  have 
hugged  each  other  to  death.  Dave  having  opened 
the  way,  Bud  grew  bolder  very  fast.  After 
everything  was  understood  between  us  arid  the 
time  set,  Bud  told  me  all  about  the  trick.  And  I 
boxed  his  ears  for  him.  If  you  are  here  I  want 
you  to  come  to  my  and  Bud's  wedding." 

Foresta  now  arose  to  go.  Holding  up  a  finger 
of  warning,  she  said,  "We  haven't  told  the  old 
folks  yet." 


CHAPTER  IV. 


The  Ways  of  A  Seeker  After  Fame. 

HIS  world  of  ours,  thought  of  in  com- 
parison with  man  the  individual,  is  so 
very,  very  large;  its  sons  and  daugh- 
ters departed,  now  on  hand  and  yet  to 
come,  form  such  an  innumerable  host;  the  ever- 
increasing  needs  of  the  living  are  so  varied  and 
urgent;  the  advance  cry  of  the  future  bidding  us 
to  prepare  for  its  coming  is  so  insistent ;  the  con- 
test for  supremacy,  raging  everywhere,  must  be 
fought  out  among  so  many  souls  of  power — these 
accumulated  considerations  so  operate  that  it  is 
given  unto  but  a  few  of  those  who  come  upon 
the  earth  to  obtain  a  look  of  recognition  from  the 
universal  eye;  and  fewer  still  are  they  who,  by 
virtue  of  inherited  capacity,  proper  bent,  neces- 
sary environment  and  the  happy  conjunction  of 
the  deed  and  the  hour,  so  labor  as  to  move  to 
admiration,  sympathy  or  reverence  the  uni- 
versal heart,  an  achievement,  apart  from  which 
no  man,  however  talented,  may  hope  to  sit  among 
the  earth's  immortals. 

The  fact  that  enduring  world  prominence  is  an 
achievement  rarely  and  with  great  difficulty  at- 
tained operates  upon  different  individuals  in  dif- 
(30) 


THE  WAYS  OF  A  SEEKER  AFTER  FAME.          31 

ferent  ways.  Some  grow  weary  of  the  strenuous 
strife,  give  up  the  contest  with  a  sigh  and  retire, 
as  it  were,  to  the  shade  of  the  trees  and  with 
more  or  less  of  yearning  await  the  coming  of  the 
deeper  shades  of  the  evening  eternal.  Others, 
fully  conscious  that  they  have  been  entrusted 
with  a  world  message,  confront  a  mountain  with 
as  much  courage  as  they  do  a  sand  dune,  and 
press  onward,  whether  the  stars  are  in  a  guiding 
or  a  hiding  mood. 

Mrs.  Arabelle  Seabright,  aspirant  for  world 
honors,  sat  in  a  rocking-chair  in  her  room  in  the 
Domain  Hotel,  Almaville,  the  stopping  place  of 
the  wealthiest  and  most  aristocratic  visitors. 
Her  small  well  shaped  hands  were  lying  one  upon 
the  other,  resting  on.  the  back  of  an  open  book 
which  was  in  her  lap,  face  downward.  Slowly  she 
rocked  backward  and  forward,  tapping  first  one 
foot  and  then  the  other  upon  the  floor.  It  was 
very  evident  that  she  was  thinking,  but  a  glance 
at  the  face  was  all  that  was  needed  to  tell  one 
that  this  thinking  was  not  due  to  irresolution  or 
uncertainty  of  purpose. 

Nothing  was  ever  more  plainly  written  upon 
the  human  countenance  than  that  this  woman 
knew  her  own  mind  and  knew  the  course  which 
she  was  to  pursue.  Her  thinking  now  is  with  a 
view  to  making  travel  along  the  elected  course  as 
agreeable  as  possible.  The  door  to  her  room 
opened  and  there  entered  a  young  man  of  medium 
height  with  delicate,  almost  feminine  features. 


32  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

His  face  was  covered  with  a  full  beard  that  was 
so  black  as  to  appear  almost  uncanny,  and  it 
seemed  so  much  out  of  place  on  one  so  young,  the 
wearer  not  being  over  twenty-five  at  most. 

"You  have  come  to  say  'yes/  my  boy,"  said 
Mrs.  Seabright,  rising  to  meet  her  son. 

The  young  man  had  really  come  to  say  "no/1 
but  that  firm,  unyielding  look  in  his  mother's  eyes 
halted  him.  Instead  of  the  determined  stand 
which  he  had  resolved  to  take,  in  the  presence  of 
his  mother's  imperious  will,  all  he  could  say  was, 
''Mother,  I — I — I — had  hoped  otherwise." 

His  mother  shook  her  head  and  looked  him  di- 
rectly in  the  eyes.  She  wanted  him  to  see  the  de- 
termination written  in  her  own  eyes. 

He  saw  and  collapsed.  "I  will  go,  mother," 
said  he.  "Be  seated,  mother,"  he  requested. 

Mrs.  Seabright,  directing  a  look  of  inquiry  at 
her  son,  sat  down. 

He  now  dropped  on  his  knees  and  rested  his 
head  upon  her  lap,  "Mother,  say  to  me  the  prayer 
that  you  taught  me  in  my  childhood — days  when 
you  were  not  this  way.  Lead  me  back  there  once 
more,  for  something  within  tells  me  that  life  is 
never  more  to  be  life  to  me." 

Mrs.  Seabright  did  not  at  all  relish  the  senti- 
mental turn  of  her  son's  mind,  but  she  began  in 
as  tender  tones  as  she  could  summon: 

"Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep." 

"Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep,"  repeated  the 
young  man. 


THE  WAYS  OF  A  SEEKER  AFTER  FAME.  33 

"I  pray  the  Lord  my  soul  to  keep,"  his  mother 
continued. 

"I  pray  the  Lord  my  soul  to  keep,"  said  he. 

"If  I  should  die  before  I  wake,"  the  mother 
said. 

"If  I  should  die  before  I  wake,"  said  the  son. 

"I  pray  the  Lord  my  soul  to  take,"  concluded 
the  mother. 

"I  pray  the  Lord  my  soul  to  take,"  the  son  re- 
peated lingeringly. 

"Mother,  truly  I  am  laying  me  down  to  sleep. 
I  am  putting  my  life,  my  soul  away.  When  I 
awake  from  this  sleep  into  which  your  influence 
as  a  mother  has  lulled  me,  I  shall  awake  to  look 
into  the  face  of  my  Creator." 

The  young  man  now  arose  and  turning  upon 
his  mother,  he  said  out  of  a  burning  heart :  "Oh, 
mother!  May  your  soul  meet  God.  As  I  leave 
you,  let  me  tell  you  it  takes  that  to  reach  your 
case!" 

"You  are  not  the  son  of  your  mother,"  quietly 
said  she. 

The  young  man  now  rushed  from  the  room  to 
get  out  of  the  presence  of  one  who,  though  his 
mother,  possessed  nothing  in  common  with  his 
own  soul.  In  spite  of  the  manner  of  his  leaving, 
Mrs.  Seabright  knew  full  well  that  he  would  per- 
form unto  the  utmost  all  that  she  had  exacted  of 
him. 

Mrs.  Seabright  resumed  her  seat  and  rocked 
to  and  fro  complacently  for  a  few  moments. 


34  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

Arising,  she  went  to  a  rolling  door,  leading  to  a 
room  adjoining  her  own.  There,  coiled  upon  the 
bed,  lay  the  beautiful  young  woman  whom  we  first 
saw  endeavoring  to  attract  the  attention  of  the 
Negro  porter  to  a  note.  Her  hair  lay  wildly 
about  her  pretty  brow,  there  were  tear  stains 
upon  her  cheeks  and  her  eyelids  were  closed.  A 
fear  seized  Mrs.  Seabright  that  her  daughter 
might  be  dead.  Rushing  to  the  bedside,  she 
called,  "Eunice!  Eunice!" 

The  young  woman  opened  her  blue  eyes  into 
her  mother's,  sat  up  and  began  to  sob  violently. 
The  mother  put  her  arms  around  the  young  wom- 
an, but  the  latter  jumped  from  the  bed  and  pulled 
herself  away. 

"Now,  Eunice,  don't  act  in  that  way.  You 
can't  see  how  bright  a  future  I  have  mapped  out 
for  you.  If  you  only  knew!" 

The  young  woman  shook  her  head  in  rejection 
of  all  that  the  mother  might  offer. 

"I  will  let.  you  see  her  as  often  as  you  choose, 
Eunice!" 

"Will  you?"  almost  shrieked  the  young  wom- 
an, stamping  her  foot  upon  the  floor,  a  wild  look 
of  joy  leaping  into  her  eye. 

"If  you  will  let  me  plan  your  future  I  will  not 
interfere  with  your  relations  with  her  whatever." 

"Mother,  mother,"  said  the  young  woman  rush- 
ing to  Mrs.  Seabright  and  throwing  her  arms 
about  her  neck.  Between  sobs  she  said,  "Mother, 
mother,  do  with  me  what  you  will,  just  so  you  al- 


THE  WAYS  OF  A  SEEKER  AFTER  FAME.          35 

low  me  to  be  with  her  when  I  choose.  Oh,  moth- 
er, how  I  wish  you  were  now  what  you  were  be- 
fore the  adder  bit  you." 

Mrs.  Seabright,  unmoved  by  this  outburst, 
gently  released  herself  from  her  daughter's  grasp 
and  returned  to  her  rocking  chair. 

"I  shall  yet  harness  to  my  cause  the  two  forces 
that  are  the  most  potent  yet  revealed  in  shaping 
the  course  of  human  society,"  said  she.  Going  to 
her  window,  she  looked  out  into  the  skies  and 
whispered  in  confidence  to  the  stars : 

"I  shall  be  remembered  as  long  as  you  shall 
shine." 

Hard  by  the  house  of  fame  sits  the  home  of  in- 
famy. Those  who  offer  too  strange  a  price  for 
the  former  are  given  the  latter. 


CHAPTER  V. 


Rather  Late  In  Life  To  Be  Still  Nameless. 


N  THE  morrow  following  our  ride 
into  Almaville  on  the  passenger  train, 
toward  twilight  Ensal  Ellwood  sat 
upon  the  front  porch  of  his  pretty 
little  home,  a  sober  look  in  his  firm,  kindly 
eyes.  By  his  side  sat  his  aged  mother,  whose 
sweet  dark  face  of  regular  features  was  crowned 
with  hair  that  was  now  white  from  the  combined 
efforts  of  time  and  sorrow.  Her  usually  placid 
countenance  wore  a  look  of  positive  alarm.  She 
had  just  been  a  listener  to  a  conversation  be- 
tween her  son  and  Gus  Martfn. 

Gus  Martin  was  a  Negro,  of  brownish  hue, 
whose  high  cheek  bones,  keen  eyes,  coarse  black 
hair  and  erect  carriage  told  plainly  of  the  Indian 
blood  in  his  veins.  Gus  was  a  great  admirer  of 
both  Ensal  and  Earl  Bluefield  and  the  three  had 
gone  to  the  Spanish-American  war  together, 
Ensal,  who  was  a  minister,  as  chaplain,  Gus  and 
Earl  as  soldiers.  These  three  were  present  at 
the  battle  of  San  Juan  Hill,  and  Gus,  v/ho  was 
(36) 


RATHER  LATE  IN  LIFE  TO  BE  STILL  NAMELESS.    37 

himself  notoriously  brave,  scarcely  knew  which 
to  admire  the  more,  EnsaFs  searching  words  that 
inspired  the  men  for  that  world-famous  dash  or 
Earl's  enthusiastic,  infectious  daring  on  the  actual 
scene  of  conflict. 

Gus  could  read  and  write  in  a  fashion,  but  was 
by  no  means  as  well  educated  as  either  Ensal  or 
Earl,  his  friends,  and  consequently  looked  to 
them  largely  for  guidance. 

Earl  had  made  efforts  to  secure  promo- 
tion upon  the  record  of  his  services  in 
battle,  but  had  failed,  because,  according  to 
common  opinion,  of  the  disinclination  of  the 
South  to  have  Negro  officers  in  the  army. 
Gus  Martin  took  Earl's  failure  to  secure  pro- 
motion more  to  heart  than  did  Earl  himself.  Gus 
was  a  follower  but  not  a  member  of  the  church  of 
which  Ensal  was  pastor,  and  he  had  come  to  pour 
forth  his  sentiments  to  Ensal  anent  the  failure  of 
his  friend  Earl  to  be  rewarded.  Ordinarily  the 
well-known  tractability  of  the  Negro  seemed  up- 
permost in  him,  but  this  evening  all  of  his  Indian 
hot  blood  seemed  to  come  to  the  fore.  His  voice 
was  husky  with  passion  and  his  black  eyes  flashed 
defiance.  He  questioned  the  existence  of  God, 
and,  begging  pardon,  asserted  that  the  Gospel 
was  the  Negro's  greatest  curse  in  that  it  un- 
manned the  race.  As  for  the  United  States  gov- 
ernment, he  said,  "The  flag  aint  any  more  to  me 
than  any  other  dirty  rag.  I  fit  fur  it.  My  blood 
run  out  o'  three  holes  on  the  groun'  to  keep  it 


38  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

floatin',  and  whut  will  it  do  fur  me?  Now  jes' 
tell  me  whut?" 

Ensal  endeavored  to  show  that  the  spirit  of  the 
national  government  was  very  correct  and  that 
the  lesser  governments  within  the  government 
caused  the  weakness.  He  held  that  in  the  course 
of  time  the  national  government  would  mould  the 
inner  circles  of  government  to  its  way  of  think- 
ing. 

"Excuse  me,  Elder ;  but  that  kind  o'  talk  makes 
me  sick.  You  are  a  good  Christian  man,  I  really 
think;  but  like  most  cullud  people  you  are  too  jam 
full  o'  patience  an'  hope.  I'll  be  blessed  if  I 
don't  b'lieve  Job  was  a  cullud  man.  I  ganny, 
I  got  Indian  blood  in  me  and  if  they  pester  this 
kid  they  are  goin'  to  hear  sump'in'  drap." 

It  was  to  this  conversation  that  Ensal's  mother 
had  listened  with  disturbed  feelings.  She  believed 
firmly  in  God  and  her  only  remedies  for  all  the  ills 
of  earth  were  prayer  and  time.  Therefore,  it 
ruffled  her  beyond  measure  to  have  a  new  spirit 
appearing  in  the  race. 

"Ensal,  there  isn't  any  good  in. that  Gus  Mar- 
tin," said  she,  in  earnest,  tremulous  tones,  nod- 
ding her  head  in  the  direction  of  the  depart- 
ing Gus.  "I  may  be  dead,  my  son,  but  you  will 
see  that  the  devil  will  be  to  pay  this  side  of  hear- 
ing the  last  of  him,"  she  continued. 

Ensal  did  not  look  in  his  mother's  direction, 
but  stole  one.  of  her  thin  worn  hands  and  placed 
it  between  his  own.  He  felt  that  his  mother's 


RATHER  LATE  IN  LIFE  TO  BE  STILL  NAMELESS.   39 

prediction  with  regard  to  Gus  Martin  was  only 
too  likely  to  be  fulfilled. 

At  this  juncture  two  young  women  appeared  at 
the  gate  and  entered.  They  were  Foresta  Crump 
and  the  young  woman  whom  we  saw  taken  to 
Foresta's  home  on  the  preceding  evening.  Being 
informed  that  the  stranger  desired  a  conference 
with  him,  Ensal  retired  to  his  study,  lighted  the 
room  and  invited  her  to  enter.  Foresta  remained 
upon  the  porch  and  entertained  Mrs.  Ellwood, 
with  whom  she  was  a  favorite,  because  of  her 
peculiarly  lovable  disposition  and  her  attention 
to  the  aged. 

When  the  young  woman  was  seated,  Ensal  took 
a  seat  and  looked  in  her  direction,  saying, 
"Consider  me  at  your  service,  please."  There 
was  an  air  of  unnatural  calm  about  the 
young  woman.  She  now  removed  her  hat 
from  her  head  and  Ensal  noted  that  her  hair  was 
so  arranged  as  to  allow  her  face  to  fully  stand 
as  nature  gave  it  to  her,  unrelieved.  He  also 
noticed  that  her  attire  was  of  a  simple  order 
throughout,  though  good  taste  and  ample  means 
were  needed  to  produce  the  results  attained  by  her 
dress.  The  light  of  the  train  that  had  told  Ensal 
that  she  was  beautiful,  had  only  hinted  at  the  at- 
tractiveness of  form  and  feature  as  disclosed 
upon  closer  inspection. 

The  young  woman  seemed  in  no  haste  to  begin 
the  conversation  about  the  matter  that  had 
brought  her  there,  and  chatted  with  Ensal  in  a 


40  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

desultory  manner.  She  was  studying  Ensal  and 
was  affording  him  an  opportunity  to  study  her. 
Ensal  had  been  so  highly  spoken  of  to  her,  and 
in  her  present  state  of  mind  she  was  so  anxious  to 
meet  such  a  person  as  he  was  represented  to  be 
that  she  was  calling  into  requisition  all  the  pow- 
ers of  intuition  of  which  her  soul  was  capable. 

At  length  an  instant  of  quiet  on  the  part  of  his 
visitor  told  Ensal  that  she  was  now  to  approach 
the  matter  that  had  given  rise  to  her  call. 

"Mr,  Ellwood,"  began  the  young  woman,  "it 
sometimes  happens  in  the  course  of  human  life 
that  we  are  compelled  to  appeal  to  the  faith  that 
people  have  in  us.  Life  is  more  or  less  a  matter 
of  faith  anyway,  but  ordinarily  there  is  some  sort 
of  buttress  for  our  faith  in  surrounding  circum- 
stances. To-night,  I  bring  not  one  shred  of  cir- 
cumstance, not  one  bit  of  history  from  my  past 
life,  and  yet  I  appeal  to  you  for  faith  in  me,  abso- 
lute unquestioning  faith." 

Her  earnest  tones  and  the  pleading  look  in  her 
beautiful  eyes  and  the  trembling  of  her  form 
burned  those  words  into  Ensal's  memory : 

"I  have  the  necessary  faith,"  said  Ensal,  ear- 
nestly and  quietly. 

"I  have  come  to  Almaville  to  begin  life  anew. 
This  has  become  necessary  through  no  act  of 
my  own.  This  is  all  I  care  to  say  on  that  point, 
and  I  do  not  promise  to  ever  break  the  seal  of  sil- 
ence with  regard  to  the  past.  I  wish  to  find  a 
name  and  I  wish  to  find  friends  among  the  really 


"Name  me  as  I  was  named  when  a  babe.  The  name 
that  I  have  borne  shall  know  me  no  more,"  replied  the 
young  woman." 

(40-41.) 


RATHER  LATE  IN  LIFE  TO  BE  STILL  NAMELESS.   41 

good  people  of  Almaville,  the  good  Negroes.  I 
am  lately  from  New  York  and  I  am  your  friend. 
With  these  facts  and  only  these,  can  you  name 
me,  can  you  place  me  in  touch  with  your  friends?" 
said  the  young  woman. 

"Name  you?"  enquired  Ensal. 

"Name  me  as  I  was  named  when  a  babe.  The 
name  that  I  have  borne  shall  know  me  no  more," 
replied  the  young  woman. 

As  pastor  of  a  Negro  church  at  a  period  when 
almost  the  entire  leadership  of  the  race  was  cen- 
tered in  that  functionary,  Ensal  was  accus- 
tomed to  having  all  sorts  of  matters  placed  be- 
fore him,  but  the  present  requirement  was  rather 
unique  in  all  of  his  experience  as  a  pastor.  He 
arose  from  the  chair  and  began  to  walk  slowly  to 
and  fro  across  the  room,  having  asked  the  indul- 
gence of  the  young  woman  for  resorting  to  his 
favorite  method  of  procedure  when  engaged  in 
serious  reflection.  If  we  must  tell  the  truth  of 
this  young  man,  the  question  which  he  was  de- 
bating most  was  somewhat  at  variance  with 
those  raised  by  her  requests. 

Ensal  had  come  to  the  conclusion  many  years 
previous  that  marriage  was  not  for  him,  and 
hitherto  woman  had  had  no  entrance  into  the 
inner  chambers  of  his  thoughts.  And  this  beau- 
tiful stranger,  nameless  and  homeless,  had  almost 
wrested  the  door  of  his  heart  from  its  hinges, 
without  even  an  attempt  thereat,  and.  the  young 


42  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

man  was  trying  to  grapple  with  the  new  experi- 
ences born  into  his  consciousness. 

Finding  that  he  lost  ground  by  trying  to  reason 
with  his  heart,  Ensal  let  the  wilful  member  alone 
and  engaged  in  the  more  honest  task  of  naming 
his  visitor.  Turning  toward  the  young  woman, 
glad  that  he  had  something  to  say,  so  that  he 
might  look  into  her  beautiful  face  again,  he  said : 

"I  name  you  Tiara." 

Ensal  assigned  the  name  with  so  much  warmth 
that  Tiara  dropped  her  eyes,  and  the  faintest 
symptoms  of  a  smile  appeared  on  her  face. 

"You  have  forgotten  the  latter  part  of  my 
name,"  she  remarked. 

Ensal  resumed  his  walking.  Happening  to 
look  up  at  the  top  of  his  desk  he  caught  sight  of 
a  sculptured  bust  of  Frederick  Douglass.  He 
paused,  and  pointing  to  the  bust,  said : 

"Behold  one  whose  distinctive  mission  in  the 
world  was  to  serve  as  a  harbinger  for  his  race! 
A  star  of  the  first  magnitude,  he  rose  in  the  night 
of  American  slavery,  attracted  the  admiring  gaze 
of  the  civilized  world,  and  so  thrilled  the  hearts 
of  men  that  they  broke  the  chains  of  all  his  kind 
in  the  hope  of  further  enriching  the  firmament  of 
lofty  human  endeavor  with  stars  like  unto  him. 
I  name  you  Tiara  Douglass." 

Ensal  turned  to  Tiara,  his  face  enkindled  with 
enthusiasm.'  He  stepped  back,  threw  up  his 
hands,  and  plainly  showed  in  his  eyes  the  un- 
bounded surprise  which  he  felt  at  the  way  in 


RATHER  LATE  IN  LIFE  TO  BE  STILL  NAMELESS.   43 

which  Tiara  had  received  his  suggestion  for  a 
surname.  There  Tiara  sat,  tears  evidently  long 
pent-up  freely  flowing  and  her  body  shaking  with, 
emotion. 

To  find  a  word  expressive  of  Ensal's  bewild- 
ered state  of  mind  is  a  problem  to  be  handed  over 
to  the  type  of  man  engaged  in  the  search  for  per- 
petual motion  and  does  not  come  within  the  pur- 
view of  a  simple  author.  Man  who  tames  the 
lion,  harnesses  the  winds,  makes  a  whimperer  of 
steam  and  cowers  the  lightning — this  same  vain- 
glorious, triumphant  man  is  simply  helpless  in 
the  presence  of  a  woman's  tears!  Ensal  stole 
quietly  to  his  seat  and  sat  there  in  a  state  of 
amazement. 

Tiara  looked  up  through  her  tears,  a  few  pretty 
locks  of  hair  having  now  fallen  in  beautiful  dis- 
order across  her  brow. 

"Mr.  Ell  wood,  I  cannot  endure  the  name  Doug- 
lass and  I  cannot  explain,"  said  she. 

Ensal  now  perceived  that  this  name  Douglass 
had  somehow  made  the  girl's  thoughts  touch  upon 
the  very  core  of  her  life's  troubles. 

"Douglass,  Douglass,  Douglass;  no  not  Doug- 
lass," repeated  Tiara  in  passionate  tones,  evi- 
dently trying  to  accept  the  name  for  Ensal's  sake 
and  yet  being  unable  to  do  so. 

"Your  name  shall  be  Tiara  Merlow,"  said 
Ensal. 

"Merlow — Merlow.  ?I  like  that,"  said  Tiara. 


44  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

"I  will  arrange  for  you  to  stop  with  Mrs.  Helen 
Crawford/*  said  Ensal. 

'Thank  you,"  said  Tiara. 

Tiara  now  arose  to  go,  but  it  was  evident  that 
there  was  something  yet  unspoken.  As  she 
reached  the  door  of  the  room  she  turned  around 
and  looked  Ensal  directly  in  the  face.  Ensal  had 
been  following  her  to  the  door,  and  the  two  now 
stood  near  each  other. 

"She  is  just  tall  and  large  enough  to  be  grand 
in  appearance,  which,  coupled  with  her  beauty  of 
face  and  symmetry  of  form,  make  her  fit  to  set  a 
new  standard  of  loveliness  in  woman,"  mentally 
observed  Ensal. 

"Mr.  Ellwood,"  said  Tiara,  "I  perceive  that  you 
are  an  admirer  of  Frederick  Douglass.  Do  you 
approve  of  his  marriage  to  a  white  woman?" 

Ensal  was  about  to  answer,  when  something  in 
Tiara's  look  told  him  that  he  was  somehow  about 
to  pass  final  judgment  upon  himself.  He  looked 
at  Tiara  to  see  if  he  could  glean  from  her  coun- 
tenance a  hint  of  her  leaning,  but  her  countenance 
was  purposely  a  blank.  He  now  tried  to  recall 
the  tone  in  which  she  asked  the  question,  but  as 
he  remembered  it,  that,  too,  was  noncommittal. 
He  was  not  seeking  to  divine  Tiara's  opinion  with 
a  view  to  shaping  his  own  accordingly.  If  it  was 
apparent  that  he  and  she  agreed,  he  was  of  course 
ready  to  answer.  If  they  were  to  differ,  he  pre- 
ferred to  postpone  answering  until  such  a  time  as 


RATHER  LATE  IN  LIFE  TO  BE  STILL  NAMELESS.    45 

he  might -be  able  to  accompany  his  answer  with 
his  reason  for  the  same. 

Ensal  now  said  smilingly,  "Practice  suspension 
of  judgment  in  my  case.  In  some  way  I  may  let 
you  know  my  views  on  the  matter  later  on." 

"All  right,"  said  Tiara,  slowly  turning  to  leave. 

It  was  evident  to  Ensal  that  further  progress 
in  her  favor  was  largely  contingent  upon  his  an- 
swer, and  the  marriage  of  Frederick  Douglass  to 
a  white  woman  became  an  exceedingly  live  ques- 
tion with  him.  He  accompanied  Tiara  and 
Foresta  home  and  the  moonlight  and  starlight 
never  before  appeared  so  glorious  to  him  or  na- 
ture so  benign. 

After  all  the  heart  makes  its  world. 


CHAPTER  VL 


Friendly  Enemies. 

T  HAS  always  been  a  mooted  question 
with  Ensal  as  to  whether  he  did  or  did 
not  sleep  the  night  of  Tiara's  call  at  his 
residence.  But  he  has  ever  stood  ready 
to  take  oath  or  affirmation  that,  whether  waking 
or  sleeping,  Tiara  was  constantly  in  his  thoughts 
that  night.  And  when  turning  his  face  toward 
the  window  the  following  morning  he  saw  streaks 
of  golden  sunshine  stretched  across  the  floor,  and 
realized  that  there  was  a  nameless  something 
within  him  which  that  sunlight  could  not  match, 
he  knew  that  the  crisis  in  his  life  had  come. 

After  a  frugal  meal  with  his  mother,  and  the 
planting  of  a  kiss  of  unusual  warmth  upon  her 
cheek,  Ensal  stepped  forth  for  his  day's  duties. 
As  he  went  out  of  his  gate  he  noticed  a  white  man 
across  the  street  acting  as  though  he  was  sketch- 
ing his  (Ensal's)  home.  Feeling  that  he  was 
warranted  in  having  as  much  interest  in  the  man 
as  the  man  seemed  to  have  in  that  which  per- 
tained to  him,  Ensal  walked  somewhat  obliquely 
(46) 


FRIENDLY  ENEMIES,  47 

across  the  street,  coming  near  enough  to  the  man 
to  receive  an  explanation,  if  the  man  desired  to 
give  one,  or,  at  any  rate,  near  enough  to  have  a 
good  view  of  the  sketch  taken. 

The  white  man  took  advantage  of  the  oppor- 
tunity to  get  a  full  look  at  Ensal,  who  felt  a  little 
uneasiness  at  the  intense  interest  which  the 
man's  whole  countenance  showed  that  he  had  in 
him.  The  man's  eyes  had  an  earnest,  pained  ex- 
pression. His  cheeks  were  hollow  and  seemed  to 
indicate  that  he  was  just  going  into  or  emer- 
ging from  a  hard  spell  of  sickness.  His  hat  was  a 
faded  brown  derby  and  his  suit  of  clothes  was  of 
a  tough,  coarse  fibre  and  much  worn.  Standing 
by  him  on  the  sidewalk  was  wrhat  appeared  to  be 
a  much  battered  drummer's  case  to  which  the 
man's  eye  would  revert  oftener  than  the  utmost 
caution  would  seem  to  have  rendered  necessary. 
Ensal  passed  on,  but  somehow  this  strange  white 
man  came  into  his  mind  and  demanded  a  share  in 
the  thoughts  which  would  otherwise  have  gone 
undividedly  to  Tiara. 

Ensal  called  at  the  home  of  Mrs.  Crawford 
and  made  it  possible  for  Tiara  to  arrange  for  a 
home  with  her,  an  alliance  which  would  at  once 
afford  Tiara  an  entrance  into  the  social  life  of 
the  best  Negro  circles.  This  much  accomplished, 
Ensal  started  in  the  direction  of  the  Crump's  to 
apprise  Tiara  of  the  arrangements. 

"Why  so  much  haste?" 


48  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

Ensal  turned  and  looked  into  the  face  of  his 
friend,  Earl  Bluefield. 

"Was  I  walking  fast?"  asked  Ensal. 

"Fast!"  exclaimed  Earl.  "If  you  can  induce 
the  saints  in  your  church  to  give  the  devil  half 
as  much  trouble  to  catch  them  as  you  have  given 
me,  why  they  will  be  saved  all  right.  Really  a 
person  who  didn't  know  would  have  thought  that 
your  mother-in-law  had  died  and  that  you  were 
hurrying  to  make  arrangements  for  her  funeral," 
said  Earl. 

"By  the  way,"  said  Ensal,  "I  am  glad  that  I 
met  you.  A-a  friend  of  mine  from  New  York, 
a  Miss  Merlow,  Tiara  Merlow,  is  in  the  city.  I 
wish  you  to  pay  her  a  call  with  me  to-morrow 
evening.  May  I  make  the  engagement?" 

Earl  dropped  his  head  in  meditation.  His 
brain  was  exceedingly  active.  Beneath  this  ap- 
parently simple  proposal  of  Ensal's  lay  hidden 
many  possibilities. 

Ensal  and  Earl  represented  two  types  in  the 
Negro  race,  the  conservative  and  the  radical. 
They  both  stood  for  the  ultimate  recognition  of 
the  rights  of  the  Negro  as  an  American  citizen, 
but  their  methods  were  opposite.  They  intuitive- 
ly assumed,  it  seemed,  opposite  sides  on  every 
question  that  arose  pertaining  to  the  race,  and 
championed  their  respective  sides  with  much 
warmth  and  vigor.  Yet  they  remained  friends, 
were  great  admirers  of  each  other,  and  lived  each 


FRIENDLY  ENEMIES.  49 

in  the  hope  of  converting  the  other  to  his  way  of 
thinking. 

On  the  question  of  racial  connection  Ensal  was 
really  proud  of  the  fact  that  he  was  a  Negro,  and 
felt  that  had  he  been  entrusted  with  the  determin- 
ing of  his  racial  affinity  he  would  have  chosen 
membership  in  the  Negro  race.  Earl  accepted 
the  fact  of  his  connection  with  the  Negro  race 
as  a  matter  of  course,  had  no  desire  to  alter  the 
relationship,  and  felt  neither  dejection  nor  elation 
on  account  thereof. 

Ensal  felt  that  fhe  acceptance  of  slavery  on  the 
part  of  the  Negro  in  preference  to  extermina- 
tion was  evidence  of  adaptability  to  conditions 
that  assured  the  presence  of  the  Negro  on  the 
earth  in  the  final  wind  up  of  things,  in  full  posses- 
sion of  all  the  advantages  that  time  and  progress 
promise.  Earl  rather  admired  the  Indian  and 
felt  that  the  dead  Indian  refusing  to  be  enslaved 
was  a  richer  heritage  to  the  world  than  the  yield- 
ing and  thriving  Negro. 

Ensal  held  that  the  course  of  the  Negro  dur- 
ing the  Civil  War  in  caring  for  the  wives  and 
children  of  the  men  fighting  for  their  enslavement 
was  a  tribute  to  their  humanity  and  would  prove 
an  invaluable  asset  in  all  future  reckonings. 
While  thoroughly  approving  of  the  Negro's  pro- 
tection of  the  women  and  children  of  the  whites 
from  violence,  Earl  was  sorry  that  the  thousand 
torches  which  Grady  said  would  have  disbanded 
the  Southern  armies  were  not  lighted.  Ensal  dep- 


50  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

recated  all  talk  and  thought  of  the  sword  as  the 
final  arbiter  of  the  troubles  between  the  races. 
Earl  had  his  dreams — and  his  plans  as  well. 

The  procuring  of  the  full  recognition  of  the 
rights  of  the  Negro  was  such  a  passion  with 
Ensal  that  Earl  relied  upon  it  to  finally  bring  him 
from  the  ranks  of  the  conservatives  to  the  radi- 
cals. Earl  was  fully  convinced  within  himself 
that  all  of  Ensal's  hopes  of  a  satisfactory,  peace- 
ful adjustment  of  matters  were  to  be  dashed  to 
the  ground,  and  knowing  how  thoroughly  Ensal's 
soul  was  committed  to  the  advancement  of  the 
race,  he  really  expected  Ensal  to  develop  into  the 
leader  of  the  radicals.  But  this  looming  into 
view  of  a  young  woman,  a  friend  of  Ensal's,  was 
liable,  Earl  thought,  to  complicate  matters. 

Earl  had  all  along  rejoiced  in  Ensal's  determi- 
nation to  remain  unmarried,  fearing  that  family 
life  might  add  to  his  conservatism.  This  ac- 
counts for  the  fact  that  Ensal's  simple  invitation 
to  call  on  a  Miss  Tiara  Merlow  on  the  following 
evening  so  deeply  affected  Earl. 

"Yes,  yes,  I'll  go/'  said  Earl  slowly,  almost  as 
much  to  himself  as  to  Ensal. 

Ensal  knew  Earl  so  well  that  he  could  have 
told  him  the  character  of  his  (Earl's)  thoughts. 

On  the  following  evening  as  Ensal  and  Earl 
sat  in  the  parlor  of  the  Crawford's  chatting, 
Tiara  parted  the  curtains  shutting  off  an  adjoin- 
ing room,  and  stepped  in.  Her  hair  was  arranged 
in  two  rich  black  braids  tied  up  so  as  to  extend 


FRIENDLY  ENEMIES.  51 

only  to  her  shoulders.  The  hair  on  the  front 
part  of  her  head  was  allowed  to  come  forward, 
but  not  enough  to  forbid  glimpses  of  a  well 
rounded,  beautiful  forehead.  As  she  stood  there, 
symmetrical  in  form,  just  large  and  tall  enough 
to  be  commanding  in  appearance,  Ensal  again  in- 
wardly declared  that  she  was  the  most  beautiful 
woman  he  had  ever  seen,  heard  of  or  dreamed 
about.  Her  eyes  would  have  made  a  face  of  less 
regular  features  appear  beautiful.  As  for  Tiara, 
they  made  her  beauty  simply  dazzling. 

When  Earl's  wits,  swept  away  by  Tiara's 
beauty,  slowly  returned,  it  dawned  upon  him  to 
his  great  astonishment  that  he  was  face  to  face 
with  the  young  woman  who  had  ridden  into  Al- 
ma ville  with  Ensal  and  himself. 

"If  she  was  Ensal's  friend,  why  did  he  not 
make  himself  known  to  her  on  the  train?"  asked 
Earl  of  himself.  But  this  query  was  soon  dis- 
lodged from  his  mind  by  one  of  far  more  inter- 
est to  him,  to  wit:  "Is  it  not  likely  that  I  may 
utilize  this  young  woman  as  a  means  of  bringing 
to  me  a  second  glimpse  of  that  girl  that  paid  us 
a  visit  from  the  coach  for  whites?" 

Earl  was  introduced  in  due  form  and  joined 
in  the  conversation  now  and  then;  but  it  was 
evident  to  Ensal  that  he  was,  for  some  cause,  ill 
at  ease.  Tiara  and  Ensal,  however,  enjoyed  the 
evening,  each  intently  weighing  the  remarks  of 
the  other. 


52  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

They  say  that  Cupid  is  blind.  This  may  be 
true  of  him  at  some  stage  of  the  proceedings,  but 
when  he  is  looking  for  a  spot  at  which  to  let  fly 
an  arrow,  he  could  play  schoolmaster  to  Argus, 
of  the  many  eyes. 

Ensal  and  Earl  departed,  Ensal  going  home  to 
live  the  evening  over  through  the  night,  while 
Earl  called  upon  Leroy  Criitcher  and  engaged 
him  to  use  Tiara  Merlow  as  a  clue  to  trace  the 
unknown  young  woman. 

"Is  this  honorable,  this  forming  an  alliance 
with  Leroy  Crutcher,  this  placing  of  a  surveil- 
lance, as  it  were,  on  the  movements  of  my  friend's 
friend?" 

These  questions  came  to  Earl  more  than 
once  that  night  and  the  answer  of  the  hot  blood 
of  his  soul  was :  "Conditions  have  made  me  an 
outlaw  among  my  kind.  Rubbish  aside,  am  I  not 
as  much  of  an  Anglo-Saxon  as  any  of  them  ?  Does 
not  my  soul  respond  to  those  things  and  those 
things  only  to  which  their  souls  respond?  He 
that  is  without  the  law  shall  be  judged  without 
the  law." 

Judged!  That  is  a  solemn  and  sometimes  an 
awful  affair  with  nature. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


Officers  Of  The  Law. 

OLD  on,  there!"  said  one  of  a  group  of 
white  boys  on  their  way  to  school. 
The  command  was  addressed  to  a  Ne- 
gro lad  fourteen  years  of  age.  "Where 
are  you  going?"  asked  the  self-appointed  spokes- 
man of  the  white  boys.  The  Negro  lad  looked 
sullenly  at  the  white  boy. 

"No  need  of  clouding  up ;  you  can't  rain,"  said 
the  white  boy.  "Don't  you  know  the  law?  The 
school  board  said  for  you  niggers  to  get  to  school 
a  half  hour  before  we  white  children.  What  do 
you  mean  by  hanging  around  and  going  to  school 
on  our  time?" 

"It  is  none  of  your  business,"  said  the  Negro. 

"I  guess  you  had  better  skip,  Mr.  Coon,"  said 
the  white  boy.  The  group  now  sat  down  on  the 
curbing,  while  the  Negro  walked  away.  The 
white  boys  gathered  stones  preparatory  for  bat- 
tle. 

The  race  problem  had  at  last  reached  the  child- 
hood of  the  two  races.  In  former  days  the  chil- 
dren of  the  whites  and  the  Negroes  had  played 
together,  and  ties  of  friendship  were  formed  that 
often  survived  the  changes  of  later  years  when 

(53> 


54  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

one  playmate  became  a  master  and  his  fellow  be- 
came his  servant.  But  that  friendly  commin- 
gling of  other  days  was  practically  all  gone  now, 
and  clashes  between  the  white  and  Negro  chil- 
dren became  so  frequent  that  the  school  authori- 
ties had  decreed  separate  hours  for  the  opening 
and  closing  of  the  schools  of  the  two  races,  so  as 
to  lessen  the  friction  as  much  as  possible. 

"Fly,  you  black  face  nigger,  you,"  shouted  a 
white  boy. 

"My  face  ain't  near  as  black  as  your 
heart,"  rejoined  the  Negro,  adroitly  dodg- 
ing the  stones  thrown  by  the  white  boys.  The 
Negro  threw  his  books  to  the  sidewalk  and  soon 
had  a  handful  of  missies.  The  rock  battle  was 
now  on  in  earnest,  the  white  boys  feeling  sure 
that  their  superior  numbers  would  soon  put  the 
lone  warrior  to  flight.  The  Negro  entered  into 
the  battle  with  his  whole  soul,  and  was  vigorous 
and  alert.  It  was  his  idea  that  the  injuring  of 
one  or  two  of  his  opponents  would  bring  the  bat- 
tle to  a  close.  A  policeman  rounded  a  corner 
leading  to  the  street  in  which  the  rock  battle  was 
raging.  The  Negro's  back  was  to  the  policeman, 
while  the  other  boys  were  facing  him.  They 
dropped  their  stones  and  assumed  a  pacific  and 
frightened  attitude  in  time  to  impress  the  police- 
man that  they  were  being  needlessly  assaulted  by 
the  Negro. 

The  Negro  who  did  not  see  the  policeman,  as- 
cribed the  capitulation  of  his  opponents  to  his 


OFFICERS  OF  THE  LAW.  55 

own  vigorous  campaign,  and  now  picked  up  his 
books,  a  look  of  exultation  on  his  face.  When  he 
turned  he  found  himself  in  the  arms  of  the  police- 
man. One  of  the  boys,  it  developed,  had  been 
slightly  bruised  by  one  of  the  Negro's  rocks.  The 
Negro  was  put  under  arrest  and  locked  up  in 
the  station  house  for  the  night. 

The  next  morning  as  Tiara  was  perusing  the 
paper,  she  noticed  that  a  Negro  boy,  Henry 
Crump,  had  been  arrested  on  a  charge  of  assault 
and  battery. 

"Henry  Crump  —  Henry  Crump  —  Crump  — 
Crump!  That  name  is  familiar  to  me,"  said 
Tiara,  laying  aside  the  paper  to  see  if  she  could 
recall  why  the  name  sounded  so  familiarly  to  her. 
"I  have  it,"  said  she,  springing  to  her  feet.  "Why, 
I  stayed  with  the  Crumps  the  first  night  that  I 
was  in  Almaville.  And  it  is  their  little  Henry  in 
trouble.  I'll  help  the  little  fellow  out,"  said  she. 

Tiara  observed  that  little  Henry's  case  was  set 
for  ten  o'clock  that  morning  and  it  was  then  nine. 
She  dispatched  a  note  to  Ensal,  who  immediately 
responded  in  person  to  accompany  her  to  the 
place  of  the  trial. 

"This,"  said  Ensal,  "is  but  a  symptom  of  a 
growing  disease.  In  the  days  before  the  war  the 
young  master  and  the  Negro  boys  played  to- 
gether and  there  was  undoubtedly  a  strong  tie  of 
personal  friendship  between  the  slaveholding 
class  and  the  Negroes  on  their  plantation.  But 
all  is  changed  now.  Rarely  do  you  find  white  and 


56  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

Negro  children  playing  together,  and  the  feeling 
of  estrangement  grows  apace  with  the  years." 

"What  is  pending?"  earnestly  asked  Tiara, 
turning  her  large,  anxious  eyes  on  Ensal. 

"Heaven  alone  knows,"  replied  Ensal.  "Just 
think!  In  order  to  have  peace  here  between  the 
children  of  the  two  races,  the  school  authorities 
provide  that  there  shall  be  a  difference  of  an  half 
hour  between  the  respective  hours  of  going  to 
and  coming  from  school,"  continued  Ensal. 

They  were  soon  at  the  police  station.  Climb- 
ing the  flight  of  stairs  they  entered  a  room 
crowded  with  Negroes  from  the  lower  stratum. 
The  great  majority  of  the  women,  it  could  be 
seen,  had  made  some  effort  at  respectability  in  at- 
tire. Some  of  the  occupants  of  the  room  were 
there  as  witnesses  in  cases,  others  because  of  in- 
terest in  parties  to  be  tried,  while  the  majority 
were  there  to  pass  judgment  on  the  judge  and 
learn  as  best  they  might  the  ways  of  the  court 
and  the  laAV.  Here  and  there  was  a  sprinkling 
of  respectable  people  who  had  by  means  of  some 
mischance  been  caught  in  the  drift. 

One  by  one  parties  charged  with  offenses  were 
called  forward,  fined  and  ordered  released  or 
passed  back.  At  length  the  case  of  Henry  Crump 
was  called,  and  he  came  forward  at  a  rather 
brisk  pace,  looking  confidently  at  his  mother  and 
vForesta  who  had  come  prepared  to  lift  him  out 
"of  his  trouble.  On  the  same  seat  with  Foresta 
and  her  mother  sat  Tiara  and  Ensal  and  their 


OFFICERS  OF  THE  LAW.  57 

presence  somehow  gave  added  assurance  to 
Henry. 

Henry  made  his  statements,  the  witnesses  were 
examined  and  in  the  monotone  with  which  the 
police  judge  went  through  with  all  of  the  cases, 
he  said,  "Fined  twenty  dollars  and  costs/' 

Foresta  half  arose,  shocked  at  the  amount,  and 
Mrs.  Crump  crouched  back  in  her  seat  in  despair. 
Foresta  had  in  her  hand  a  crisp  ten  dollar  bill 
which  the  family  had  raised,  not  dreaming  that 
the  fine  would  go  above  that  amount. 

"Pass  him  back,"  said  the  judge.  Henry  cast 
an  inquiring  look  at  Foresta  and  his  mother. 
Tears  were  in  Foresta's  eyes  and  Henry  knew 
that  they  were  helpless.  It  simply  meant  that 
he  was  to  have  a  pick  on  his  leg  and  work  the 
streets  of  Almaville.  He  dropped  his  head  dis- 
consolately, nervously  fumbled  his  hat,  and  tears 
appeared  in  his  eyes.  The  sting  went  deep  into 
his  boyish  soul  as  he  walked  away. 

"Wait  a  minute!"  rang  out  Tiara's  voice,  and 
going  up  to  the  judge's  desk,  she  put  down  a  fifty- 
dollar-bill,  saying,  "Take  the  amount  of  the  fine 
and  costs  out  of  this." 

The  judge  looked  up  somewhat  surprised. 
Tiara's  act,  born  purely  out  of  sympathy  for  the 
youthfulness  of  Henry  and  of  sentimental  regard 
for  the  first  family  that  harbored  her  in  Alma- 
ville, was  totaly  misunderstood  by  the  court  of- 
ficials. They  fancied  they  scented  a  race  contest 
in  the  matter  and  felt  that  Tiara  was  simply  try- 


58  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

ing  to  show  that  it  was  all  right  for  a  Negro  boy 
to  stand  up  against  white  boys.  They  now  de- 
cided to  punish  Henry  to  the  limit  of  the  law. 

"Release  the  prisoner,"  said  the  judge. 

Henry  was  released  and  Foresta  and  her  frail 
looking  mother  rushed  to  Tiara  to  thank  her. 
While  they  were  doing  this  the  deputy  sheriff 
stepped  up  and  rearrested  Henry. 

"Pardon  me,"  said  Ensal,  interrupting  the  fe- 
licitations of  the  ladies.  "We  are  not  through 
yet.  I  see  they  are  taking  the  boy  over  to  the 
County  Court." 

"That  isn't  right,"  cried  Foresta,  as  she  fol- 
lowed the  group. 

The  Criminal  Court  was  then  in  session,  and 
Henry's  case  was  not  long  in  being  called.  The 
deputy  sheriff  was  seen  to  whisper  a  few  words 
aside  to  the  judge.  The  jury  brought  in  a  ver- 
dict of  guilty  and  the  judge  assessed  his  punish- 
ment at  ten  months  on  the  county  farm. 

Henry  was  now  placed  on  the  bench  where  sat 
the  row  of  convicted  prisoners  awraiting  the  pleas- 
ure of  the  sheriff,  whose  duty  it  was  to  deliver 
them  to  the  places  assigned  them.  As  the  boy 
took  his  seat  on  this  bench  to  await  the  issue  of 
other  trials,  when  the  sheriff  would  carry  all  the 
prisoners  over  together,  there  began  to  crowd  to 
his  mind  all  that  he  knew  of  Negroes  on  the  coun- 
ty farm.  He  had  heard  of  the  indecent  manner 
of  whipping  Negro  women  practiced  out  there. 
He  saw  one  woman  whose  eye  had  been  knocked 


OFFICERS  OF  THE  LAW.  59 

out  by  an  overseer.  He  had  seen  a  petition 
emanating  from  the  colored  people  containing 
sworn  allegations  setting  forth  a  multitude  of 
horrors. 

Henry  remembered  having  seen  one  boy  re- 
turn whose  foot  was  frost-bitten  and  had  to  be 
amputated  as  the  result  of  exposure  at  the  farm. 
It  was  summer  now,  but  ten  months  would  carry 
him  fully  through  the  winter  at  the  farm.  The 
thoughts  of  a  stay  there  was  too  much  for  him. 
Arising  quickly  he  sprang  up  into  the  court  house 
window.  An  officer  rushed  toward  him  to  in- 
tercept him,  but  it  was  too  late.  Out  of  the  win- 
dow he  jumped,  dropping  to  the  pavement  below. 
He  dashed  out  of  the  side  gate  of  the  court  house 
yard  and  ran  southward  across  the  square,  in  the 
center  of  which  the  court  house  stood.  Coming 
to  the  street  which  led  to  the  bridge  over  the  river 
that  intersected  the  city,  he  turned  eastward  and 
started  across  the  bridge  with  all  the  speed  at  his 
command. 

The  court  officials  were  now  in  hot  pursuit  of 
the  fleeing  lad,  one  officer  seizing  a  buggy,  an- 
other jumping  upon  a  street  car  and  ordering  the 
motorman  to  proceed  at  his  utmost  speed. 

Henry  had  almost  covered  the  full  length  of  the 
bridge,  wThen  the  cry  of  the  officers,  caught  up 
from  one  to  another,  had  about  come  up  with  him. 
When  he  had  all  but  reached  the  farther  end  of 
the  bridge,  in  order  to  avoid  an  officer  whom  he 
saw  standing  awaiting  him  with  a  drawn  pistol, 


60  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

he  leaped  over  the  railing  and  dropped  about 
twenty  feet,  striking  the  embankment  reared  up 
for  a  resting  place  for  the  end  of  the  bridge. 

This  officer  of  the  law  saw  Henry  leap  and  ran 
to  the  steps  which  were  not  far  from  the  spot 
whence  he  had  jumped.  The  officer  reached  the 
steps  in  time  to  see  Henry  sliding  toward  the  wa- 
ter's edge.  The  officer  began  running  down  the 
steps,  shooting  as  he  ran.  The  people  on  the  bridge 
crowded  to  the  side  over  which  Henry  had  leaped 
and  witnessed  the  race  between  Henry  and  the 
shooting  officer.  Henry  fell  and  it  was  thought 
that  he  was  hit,  but  he  arose  and  continued  his 
running.  He  turned  under  the  bridge  and  ran 
along  parallel  with  the  waters  of  the  river.  After 
passing  fully  under  the  bridge,  Henry  plunged 
into  the  stream  and  ran  somewhat  diagonally  to- 
ward the  center  of  the  river  until  he  was  up  to 
his  neck  in  water. 

"Move  a  step  further  out  and  I  will  kill  you," 
said  a  bareheaded  officer,  who  had  at  last  reached 
the  river  bank,  brandishing  his  pistol  as  he 
spoke. 

By  this  time  hundreds,  perhaps  a  thousand  or 
so,  of  people  had  gathered  on  the  bridge.  Henry 
stood  in  the  water  tossing  his  arms  up  and  down. 
He  feared  to  come  ashore  and  was  equally  afraid 
to  try  to  swim  further  out,  feeling  that  he  would 
be  killed  in  any  event.  Some  one  on  the  bridge 
lifted  a  revolver  to  the  railing,  leveled  it  at 
Henry's  head  and  fired. 


OFFICERS  OF  THE  LAW.  61 

"Shame!  Shame!  Shame!"  was  the  word 
passed  from  lip  to  lip,  as  the  noise  of  the  shot 
was  heard.  Henry  threw  up  his  hands  and  fell, 
his  arms  upstretched  above  his  head  as  he  dis- 
appeared beneath  the  surface  of  the  water.  No 
one  of  the  thousands  stirred.  In  breathless  silence 
they  watched  the  spot  where  the  lad  had  sunk  out 
of  sight.  Some  felt  that  Henry  had  simply  dived 
and  in  due  time  would  rise.  Second  after  second 
passed,  on  the  brief  moments  of  time  flew,  while 
the  eager  eyes  of  the  multitude  were  fastened  on 
the  murky  waters  of  the  river.  Henry  did  not 
rise.  He  was  dead.  When  it  was  known  that 
life  must  be  extinct,  officers  of  the  law  rowed  out 
to  where  he  was  last  seen  and  fished  his  body  out. 

Ensal  who  had  followed  the  chase  now  returned 
to  the  court  house.  Tiara,  Foresta  and  Foresta's 
mother  had  heard  the  shooting  and  formed  an 
awe-struck  group,  fearing  that  something  had 
happened  and  yet  hoping  against  hope.  Ensal's 
sad  countenance  told  them  that  their  worst  fears 
were  realized. 

"Henry  is  dead,  mama,"  moaned  Foresta,  as 
she  threw  her  arms  about  her  frail  mama's  neck. 
"He  is  dead,  mama;  let's  go  home,"  wailed  For- 
esta again. 

Ensal  and  Tiara  returned  to  Mrs.  Crawford's, 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


A  Messenger  That  Hesitates. 

RS.  CRUMP  sat  in  her  room,  her  el- 
bows propped  up  on  her  knees  and  her 
cheeks  resting  on  her  hands.  The  death 
of  Henry,  her  only  boy,  was  indeed  a 
severe  blow  to  her,  but  at  this  particular  moment 
she  was  bearing  up  well  under  it,  reserving  her 
strength  by  a  supreme  effort  of  her  will  to  the 
end  that  she  might  comfort  her  husband  when  he 
became  aware  of  the  tragedy. 

Foresta  had  gone  for  her  father  with  the  un- 
derstanding that  she  was  not  to  tell  him  what 
had  occurred,  but  was  to  allow  her  mother  to 
break  the  news  to  him  upon  his  arrival  home. 

Every  step  that  Foresta  took  en  her  sorrowful 
journey  was  accompanied  by  a  rain  of  tears.  As 
she  drew  near  the  place  where  her  father  was  at 
work,  she  stopped  and  tried  to  remove  all  traces 
of  sorrow.  She  wiped  and  wiped  her  eyes,  but 
the  tears  persisted  in  flowing.  Her  father  was 
at  work  in  a  quarry  as  a  rock  breaker. 

The  city  was  using  small  stones  as  a  sort  of 
pavement  for  the  streets,  and  aged  Negro  men 
(62) 


A   MESSENGER  THAT   HESITATES.  63 

were  given  the  work  of  breaking  rocks  into 
fragments  to  be  used  in  that  way.  The  occupa- 
tion was  not  an  ideal  one,  as  employment  was  of 
a  fluctuating  character,  and  the  sitting  on  the 
ground,  often  damp,  was  not  conducive  to  health. 
The  amount  earned  in  proportion  to  the  labor 
performed  was  very  small.  But  aged  men  un- 
able to  move  about  very  much  found  this  to  be 
about  all  that  they  could  do.  So,  the  rock  pile 
grew  to  be  the  accepted  goal  of  all  the  Negro  men 
who  wore  themselves  out  in  other  service  with- 
out laying  aside  a  competence  or  establishing 
themselves  permanently  in  the  good  graces  of 
their  employees. 

There  were  many  who  did  thus  establish  them- 
selves, and  Ford  Crump  would  have  been  such  a 
one  but  for  the  following  chain  of  circumstances, 
to  which  account  you  may  give  heed  while  wait- 
ing on  Foresta  to  feel  self-possessed  enough  to 
approach  her  father. 

Soon  after  the  Civil  War  Mr.  Arthur  Daleman 
came  to  Almaville  and  entered  business.  Ford 
Crump,  Foresta's  father,  then  a  young  man,  was 
his  first  Negro  employee.  The  business  grew  un- 
til Mr.  Daleman  was  rightly  classed  as  a  very 
rich  man. 

For  several  years  after  Mr.  Arthur  Daleman's 
marriage,  no  children  had  come  to  bless  their 
home.  Early  one  morning,  as  Mr.  Daleman  was 
crossing  the  bridge,  he  saw  a  young  white  girl 


€4  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

vcting  rather  suspiciously,  peering  up  and  down 
the  bridge.  Drawing  near,  he  found  that  she  had 
an  infant  wrapped  in  a  bundle.  Fully  believing 
that  it  was  the  intention  of  the  girl  to  drown  the 
babe,  he  asked  that  she  give  him  the  child.  This 
the  young  woman  very  gladly  did.  As  the  child 
grew,  Mrs.  Daleman's  heart  warmed  to  it  and 
after  several  years  of  anxious  thought  and  ob- 
servation of  the  child  the  couple  decided  to  adopt 
it  as  their  son.  Within  a  year  after  this  was 
done  a  beautiful  little  girl,  whom  they  called 
Alene,  was  born  to  them. 

When  Mr.  Daleman  grew  wealthy,  he  decided 
to  travel  through  the  North  and  induce  capital 
to  invest  in  the  South.  He  felt  that  the  commer- 
cial tie  between  the  sections  would  be  of  the 
greatest  possible  value  and  it  \vas  said  of  him 
that  ne  brought  more  outside  capital  into  the 
South  than  any  other  one  man.  He  turned  his 
business  over  to  his  adopted  son,  Arthur  Dale- 
man, Jr. 

Arthur  Daleman,  Jr.,  did  not  like  Negroes,  and 
though  Ford  Crump  had  been  with  the  business 
from  its  infancy,  his  presence  was  not  desired  by 
the  new  manager.  When  Ford  Crump  got  so 
that  he  was  not  as  active  as  was  desired,  he  was 
summarily  dismissed  and  his  place  given  to  a 
young  white  man.  Arthur  Daleman,  Sr.,  whose 
interests  were  now  immense,  never  came  near  the 
store,  and,  as  a  consequence,  did  not  know  the 
fate  that  had  overtaken  his  faithful  employee. 


A   MESSENGER  THAT   HESITATES.  65 

Ford  Crump  did  not  appeal  to  Mr.  Daleman, 
Sr.,  in  the  matter,  partly  through  pride  and  part- 
ly because  he  could  not  bear  the  irritating  tone 
of  the  younger  Daleman,  which  was  in  such  strik- 
ing contrast  to  the  kindly  manner  of  the  elder 
Daleman.  He  had  saved  his  earnings  and  bought 
a  little  home,  and  he  was  now  willing  to  take  his 
chances  in  the  world  even  at  his  advanced  age.  It 
was  thus  that  he  found  his  way  to  the  rock  pile. 

We  now  return  to  our  messenger.  Foresta 
sees  that  she  is  not  going  to  be  able  to 
appear  before  her  father  free  from  signs  of  sor- 
row, and  she  decides  on  another  course.  Pick- 
ing up  a  stone  she  rubbed  it  violently  on  the  back 
of  her  hand,  tearing  the  skin  and  causing  blood 
to  flow.  She  now  hurried  to  the  spot  where  her 
father  sat,  and  said, 

"Papa,  mama  wants  you!" 

The  tone  of  Foresta's  voice  caused  her  father 
to  look  up  quickly  and  anxiously. 

"What  are  you  crying  about,  my  dear?"  asked 
Mr.  Crump. 

Foresta  made  no  reply,  but  held  out  her  hand 
so  that  her  father  could  see  it. 

"Poor  thing;  how  did  you  hurt  it?"  he  asked. 

"Don't  think  about  that.  Mama  wants  you, 
Come  on !"  said  Foresta,  averting  her  face. 

The  father  and  daughter  trudged  along  home, 
the  father  trying  to  say  comforting  things  to 
Foresta  and  she  weeping  the  more  bitterly  the 
while.  At  length  it  occurred  to  Mr.  Crump  that 


66  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

Foresta  was  more  deeply  touched  than  would 
have  been  the  case  if  her  trouble  had  been  merely 
that  of  a  bruised  hand.  Stopping,  he  said, 

"Say,  now,  Foresta,  is  your  mama  hurt?" 

"0  no,  papa!      Mama  is  not  hurt.    Come  on!" 

"Is  Henry  - 

Foresta  perceived  the  coming  question,  and 
ran  to  avoid  it.  They  were  now  near  home. 
Foresta  rushed  in  and  threw  her  arms  around  her 
mother.  Hearing  her  father's  footsteps,  she  ran 
into  the  kitchen,  leaving  her  mother  to  break  the 
news. 

"Ford,  we  haven't  any  little  Henry  now!"  said 
Mrs.  Crump  in  sad,  soothing  tones. 

Ford  Crump  whirled  away  from  his  wife  and 
walked  rapidly  out  of  the  room  through  the  kitch- 
en into  the  back  yard.  Little  Henry's  chief  task 
was  attending  to  the  chickens,  and  Mr.  Crump 
stood  at  the  fence  running  across  the  yard  to 
form  an  enclosure  for  the  fowl, 

"Chicks,  your  best  friend  is  gone,"  said  he. 

"My  head!  my  head!"  he  cried. 

Foresta  and  her  mother  heard  his  cry  and 
reached  him  just  in  time  to  break  the  force  of  the 
fall,  but  not  in  time  to  prevent  his  answering  the 
final  summons. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


A  Plotter  /«  He. 

EIGHBORS  came  and  took  charge  of 
the  body  of  Ford  Crump.  The  body 
of  Henry  was  brought  home  and  re- 
ceived the  same  kindly  attention.  For- 
esta  and  her  mother  now  set  forth  to  make  ar- 
rangements for  the  burial.  The  undertakers 
asked  for  a  lien  on  their  place  as  a  guarantee  of 
the  payment  of  the  debt. 

Upon  investigation  it  transpired  that  the  place 
had  been  purchased  by  Arthur  Daleman,  Sr.,  in 
his  own  name.  Mr.  Crump  had  paid  him  in  full 
for  the  place  but  the  proper  transfer  had  never 
been  made.  Mr.  Daleman  was  not  in  the  city  and 
Arthur  Daleman,  Jr.,  refused  to  have  anything  to 
do  with  the  matter.  He  also  intimated  that  un- 
less Mrs.  Crump  could  show  a  clear  title  to  the 
place,  she  would  be  charged  rent. 

This  intimation  did  not  worry  Mrs.  Crump,  for 
she  knew  Arthur  Daleman,  Sr.,  to  be  the  soul  of 
honor  and  knew  that  he  would  do  what  was  right, 
title  or  no  title.  But  her  personal  confidence  in 

(67) 


68  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

Mr.  Daleman  could  not  be  converted  into  cash, 
and  she  had  to  look  elsewhere  for  money. 

There  infested  Almaville  scores  of  loan  com- 
panies that  charged  exorbitant  rates  of  interest 
and  had  their  contracts  so  arranged  that  a  fail- 
ure to  pay  put  them  in  possession  of  the  house- 
hold goods  of  the  party  in  debt.  It  was  also  held 
to  be  a  criminal  offense  punishable  by  a  term  in 
the  penitentiary  for  a  person  to  borrow  money 
from  more  than  one  company  on  the  same  items 
of  furniture. 

Little  Henry  had  always  asserted  that  he  was 
going  to  be  a  merchant  when  he  became  a  man, 
and  made  it  a  custom  to  pick  up  and  preserve  such 
business  cards  as  were  thrown  into  his  yard.  From 
his  pile  of  cards  stacked  in  a  corner  Mrs.  Crump 
learned  the  location  of  these  loan  companies  and 
decided  to  resort  to  them  for  the  money  needed. 
Getting  a  small  sum  from  each,  she  had  borrowed 
from  fifteen  companies  when  she  at  last  got  the 
amount  demanded  by  the  undertaker. 

Arthur  Daleman,  Jr.,  was  not  making  money 
as  fast  as  he  desired  in  the  business  turned  over 
to  him  by  his  father,  so  he  had  resorted  to  the 
loan  business.  Knowing  that  people  would  of- 
ten borrow  from  more  than  one  loan  company  in 
spite  of  the  regulations  forbidding  it,  and  reason- 
ing that  such  borrowers  would  be  even  more  sure 
than  others  to  pay,  because  of  fear  of  the  peni- 
tentiary, he  had  ten  loan  companies  of  his  own 


A  PLOTTER   IS   HE.  69 

operating  in  different  buildings  under  various 
names. 

It  happened  that  on  the  evening  that  Foresta 
and  her  mother  made  the  rounds  borrowing  mon- 
ey, he  was  on  an  inspecting  tour  of  his  loan  com- 
panies. Mrs.  Crurnp  borrowed  money  from  five 
of  Arthur  Daleman's  companies  without,  of 
course,  knowing  it.  Arthur  Daleman,  Jr.,  him- 
self was  present  in  two  places  when  she  was  bor- 
rowing the  money.  On  each  of  these  occasions 
he  had  taken  more  than  a  passing  interest  in 
Foresta.  Her  beauty  was  by  no  means  dimin- 
ished by  the  mourning  attire,  and  Arthur  Dale- 
man, Jr.,  found  himself  admiring  her,  notwith- 
standing his  hatred  of  her  race.  When  the  pa- 
pers were  signed  in  the  second  loan  transaction 
which  he  witnessed,  he  said  to  himself  with  a  feel- 
ing of  satisfaction :  "My  way  is  tolerably  clear." 

With  the  money  procured  from  the  various 
loan  companies  little  Henry  and  his  father  were 
given  what  the  people  called  a  nice  burial.  With- 
in a  week  after  the  interment  Arthur  Daleman, 
Jr.,  made  his  appearance  at  Mrs-  Crump's  home. 
Foresta  was  at  school  when  he  called,  and  when 
she  reached  home  she  found  her  mother  standing, 
facing  him,  with  an  angry  and  excited  look  in 
her  eyes.  Foresta  read  in  her  mother's  coun- 
tenance that  she  was  angry  and  that  the  advan- 
tage in  whatever  matter  it  was,  was  not  alto- 
gether on  her  side. 

"What  is  it,  mama?"  asked  Foresta. 


70  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

"This  man  wants  you  to  hire  out  in  his  family 
after  you  graduate." 

Foresta  looked  at  the  man  in  surprise.  The 
thought  of  going  into  the  service  of  the  whites 
was  utterly  foreign  to  her  ambition. 

"You  may  take  your  choice,"  said  Arthur  Dale- 
man,  Jr.,  sure  of  his  ground. 

"What  choice?"  asked  Foresta,  alarmed  by  the 
man's  tone  of  assurance. 

"It  is  this  way.  Negro  servants  are  not  up  to 
what  they  used  to  be.  They  are  getting  squeam- 
ish, and  you  have  to  be  so  careful  how  you  speak 
to  them  or  they  will  leave  you.  We  are  kept  al- 
ways on  the  lookout  for  a  servant  girl." 

"What  on  earth  have  I  to  do  with  that?"  asked 
Foresta,  her  eyes  widening  with  astonshiment. 

"This  much — I  am  going  to  have  a  measure  of 
stability  in  my  family  service  somehow.  Your 
mother  here  is  in  a  tight  box.  All  I  have  to  do  is 
to  speak  the  word  and  to  the  penitentiary  she 
goes!"  said  Daleman. 

Foresta  grew  weak,  her  lips  slightly  parted 
and  she  backed  to  the  wall  for  support. 

Arthur  Daleman,  Jr.,  continued:  "Borrowing 
money  from  loan  companies  takes  the  form  of  a 
sale,  as  you  can  see  by  reading  any  of  the  con- 
tracts. Now  you  can't  sell  a  thing  to  two  differ- 
ent people  at  the  same  time.  The  law  does 
not  allow  such.  It  is  a  penitentiary  offense. 
See?" 


A  PLOTTER   IS   HE.  71 

Foresta  rushed  to  her  mother  and  threw  her 
arms  about  her  and  sobbed  bitterly. 

Mrs.  Crump  said,  "I'll  go  to  the  pen.  Come  af- 
ter me  when  you  get  ready !  but  Fores'  shall  never 
work  for  you." 

"Take  your  choice,"  said  Arthur  Daleman,  Jr., 
and  walked  from  the  room. 

Foresta  tore  herself  from  her  mother's  arms* 
and  rushed  out  of  the  room  after  him.  "Mister! 
Wait!"  she  called.  "Don't  do  anything  to  mama. 
Ill  come  and  do  the  work  faithfully,"  said 
Foresta  trying  to  smile. 

"All  right,"  said  Daleman,  smiling,  "Be  a  good 
girl  and  you  won't  have  a  better  friend  than  I 
am,"  said  he,  in  a  significant  tone,  trying  to 
awaken  Foresta  to  the  real  situation. 

If  she  understood  it  her  impassive  countenance 
did  not  reveal  the  fact. 

The  world  at  large  has  heard  that  the  prob- 
lem of  the  South  is  the  protection  of  the  white 
woman.  There  is  another  woman  in  the  South. 


CHAPTER  X. 


Arabelle  Seabright. 

RABELLE,  I  am  not  going  to  have  a 
thing  to  do  with  this  whole  matter. 
Suppose  the  bottom  falls  out  and  we 
are  detected.  Just  imagine  my  fate." 
"Detected?"  hissed  Mrs.  Arabelle  Seabright, 
turning  a  scornful  gaze  upon  her  husband.  "Yoa 
talk  as  though  we  have  committed  or  are  about  to 
commit  some  crime.  You  just  stay  in  your  place, 
please,  and  leave  matters  to  me." 

"Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  I  need  not  meet 
the  man?"  asked  Mr.  Seabright  eagerly. 
"Yes!"  replied  Mrs.  Seabright. 
He  leaped  out  of  his  chair  and  waltzed  across 
the  room,  kissed  his  wife  and  darted  through  the 
door. 

"Fool!"  she  muttered  between  her  teeth. 
Mrs.  Arabelle  Seabright  in  her    room    in    the 
Domain  Hotel  was  now  awaiting  the  arrival  of 
a  newspaper  reporter,  the  next  victim  to  be  bent 
to  her  will.     It  had  been  on  her  programme  to 
have  her  daughter  Eunice  and  her  husband  pres- 
ent during  a  part  of  the  interview  with  the  re- 
(72) 


ARABELLE  SEABRIGHT.  73 

porter,  but  as  they  were  not  entering  enthusias- 
tically into  her  plans  she  was  rather  glad  that 
they  had  declined  to  be  present. 

It  was  not  long  before  a  Mr.  Gilman,  reporter 
for  the  "Daily  Columbian,"  was  ushered  into  Mrs. 
Seabright's  room. 

"Let  us  understand  each  other  at  the  outset,  if 
possible,"  said  Mrs.  Seabright,  with  a  smile,  di- 
recting a  kindly  gaze  in  the  direction  of  the  young 
man.  Mr.  Gilman  bowed  deferentially,  but  said 
nothing. 

"I  am  ambitious?"  said  Mrs.  Seabright. 

"Ambitious  people  are  the  ones  that  carry  the 
world  forward,"  ventured  the  young  man  mod- 
estly. 

"I  have  an  unbounded  ambition, — an  ambition 
to  live  in  history  as  long  as  a  record  of  human  af- 
fairs is  kept.  Oh!  I  hate  death!"  said  Mrs.  Sea- 
bright  with  a  shudder,  stamping  a  foot  upon  the 
floor  for  emphasis.  "I  have  money  with  which 
to  further  my  ambitions.  I  am  aware  of  the  tra- 
ditions i)f  your  paper,  the  'Columbian.'  I  shall 
not  ask  you  to  violate  them.  But  if  you  will  put 
your  heart  in  your  labor  and  be  an  incessant 
worker  in  my  interest,  your  ambitions  will  be 
gratified.  A  fair  exchange  is  no  robbery.  You 
put  me  on  the  way  to  attain  my  ends  and  I  shall 
do  the  like  for  you.  Is  it  a  bargain  ?'* 

"Whatever  I  may  be  able  to  do  consistently,  I 
shall  certainly  do,  and  shall  be  duly  appreciative 
of  whatever  may  result  in  my  favor  In  conse- 


74  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

quence  of  work  worthily  done,"  said  the  young 
man  with  so  much  fervor  that  Mrs.  Seabright 
knew  that  she  was  well  fortified  in  that  direction. 

Bit  by  bit  the  Almaville  public  was  educated 
as  to  the  Seabrights.  They  were  descendants 
of  sires  that  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  affairs 
of  the  Colonies  during  and  succeeding  the  period 
of  the  American  Revolution.  Mr.  Seabright  in- 
herited a  large  fortune  which  a  keen  business 
sense  had  enabled  him  to  increase  very  material- 
ly. He  had  now  moved  to  Almaville  to  found 
one  of  the  largest  furniture  manufacturing  es- 
tablishments in  the  country.  He  was  so  ab- 
sorbed in  business  pursuits  that  he  did  not  relish 
social  affairs  much,  but  his  charming  wife  was 
such  a  dispenser  of  hospitality  that  she  made  up 
for  his  deficiency. 

Eunice,  reputed  to  be  the  sole  heir  to  the  Sea- 
bright  millions,  was  a  girl  of  great  beauty,  highly 
accomplished,  and  the  center  of  attraction  of  any 
group  of  which  she  formed  a  part. 

A  valuable  tract  of  land  had  already  been  pur- 
chased for  the  manufacturing  establishment  and 
a  contract  for  the  construction  of  the  plant  had 
been  let.  As  soon  as  a  suitable  location  could  be 
found,  Mr.  Seabright  was  going  to  erect  a  man- 
sion in  Almaville  that  would  be  the  pride  of  the 
South.  An  option  had  been  taken  on  a  piece  of 
property  in  the  West  End  that  about  measured 
up  to  the  requirements,  and  the  likelihood  was 
that  the  residence  would  be  constructed  there. 


ARABELLE  SEABRIGHT.  75 

The  mere  prospect  had  caused  the  prices  of  the 
property  in  that  vicinity,  already  valuable,  to  soar 
much  higher. 

The  public  soon  perceived  that  the  conservative, 
the  reliable  "Columbian,"  the  paper  of  the  South- 
ern aristocracy,  was  favorably  impressed  with  the 
Seabrights  as  a  valuable  addition  to  the  commer- 
cial and  social  life  of  Almaville,  and  even  the  most 
exclusive  circles  prepared  to  make  room  for  the 
newcomers. 

The  Hon.  H.  G.  Volrees  sat  in  his  law  office 
with  his  chair  tilted  back,  his  chestnut  brown 
hair  much  rumpled  upon  his  large  Daniel  Web- 
ster looking  head.  Here  was  one  of  the  most 
astute  legal  minds  of  the  state  and  the  real  head 
of  the  Democratic  party  of  the  state.  He  was 
now  forty-five  years  old  and  unmarried.  He  had 
never  held  public  office  but  was  seriously  consid- 
ering entering  the  race  for  United  States  Sena- 
tor. A  venerable  senator  was  to  retire  within 
about  three  years  and  the  position  could  be  his 
if  he  but  indicated  a  willingness  to  accept. 

The  Hon.  H.  G.  Volrees  had  large  ambitions. 
He  was  anxious  to  restore  the  old  time  prestige 
of  the  South  in  the  councils  of  the  nation.  He 
was  a  well-to-do  man  but  did  not  have  the  money 
to  gain  an  assured  social  position  at  the  nation's 
capital.  He  fancied  he  detected  the  flavor  of  am- 
bition in  those  flattering  notices  concerning  the 
Seabrights. 

"It  may  be  that  my  hour  has  come,"  said   Mr. 


76  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

Volrees,  picking  up  the  paper  and  looking  again 
at  the  published  picture  of  Eunice.  He  closed 
his  desk  and  went  to  his  hotel. 

Mrs.  Arabelle  Seabright's  net  had  caught  its 
fish.  And  what  had  the  fish  caught?  Now  that 
is  the  vital  question. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


Unusual  For  A  Man. 

EVER  in  all  of  human  history  was  an 
ambitious  woman  more  satisfied  with 
the  progress  of  her  plans  than  was 
Mrs.  Arabelle  Seabright.  In  due  time 
the  Hon.  H.  G.  Volrees  had  formed  her  acquaint- 
ance and  it  was  not  long  before  they  had  come  to 
an  understanding.  Eunice  demurred  not  in  the 
least  when  it  was  made  known  to  her  that  she 
was  to  be  Mrs.  H.  G.  Volrees. 

At  an  opportune  time  the  Hon.  H.  G.  Volrees 
announced  his  willingness  to  accept  a  seat  in  the 
United  States  Senate  and  long  before  the  time 
of  the  election  party  leaders  vied  with  each  other 
in  declaring  in  his  favor.  When  the  success  of 
his  candidacy  was  assured  he  approached  Mrs. 
Seabright  with  a  view  to  laying  claim  to  his 
bride.  The  announcement  of  the  engagement 
was  made,  the  date  of  the  marriage  was  set  and 
preparations  for  the  great  event  went  on  apace. 
Eunice  appeared  to  enter  heartily  into  all  the 
plannings,  and  was  seemingly  happy  to  an  un- 
usual degree. 


78  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

The  "Daily  Columbian"  did  its  share  in  stimu- 
lating interest  in  the  forthcoming  marriage.  Ai- 
maville  as  a  whole  seemed  to  be  particularly  well 
pleased  with  the  proposed  wedding,  involving,  as 
it  did,  a  union  of  the  wealth  and  beauty  of  the 
North  with  the  brain  and  chivalry  of  the  South. 

As  for  Mr.  Seabright,  the  more  his  family  at- 
tracted social  attention  the  more  uneasy  he  grew. 
At  first  tie  did  make  out  to  accompany  his  wife  to 
church  and  to  theaters;  but  he  had  such  a  way 
of  staring  at  the  ceiling,  avoiding  the  gaze  of  peo- 
ple, and  hurrying  away  to  escape  introductions, 
that  finally  she  was  glad  to  leave  him  at  home. 
Many  brilliant  social  functions  were  given  at 
his  home,  but  he  was  always  absent. 

A  Mrs.  Marsh,  in  whom  curiosity  was  more 
strongly  developed  than  even  in  the  rest  of  her 
kind,  was  determined  to  find  out  something  about 
this  eccentric  Mr.  Seabright.  She  managed  to 
get  on  intimate  terms  with  Mrs.  Seabright,  and 
was  very  free  in  moving  to  and  fro  in  the  Sea- 
bright  residence.  Her  intentions  were  not  how- 
ever hidden  from  Mrs.  Seabright.  She  knew 
that  Mrs.  Marsh  was  planning  to  get  closer  to 
her  husband  as  a  matter  of  curiosity,  and  she 
was  glad  of  the  experiment,  hoping  that  Mrs. 
Marsh  would  eventually  succeed  in  making  him 
at  home  in  the  social  circle. 

There  was  a  sort  of  turret-shaped  cupola 
crowning  the  Seabright  residence  and  Mr.  Sea- 
bright  ma'de  this  his  retreat.  It  was  fitted  up 


UNUSUAL  FOR  A  MAN.  79 

with  a  telephone  connecting  it  with  the  rest  of 
the  house  and  with  his  place  of  business.  It  also 
bad  connections  with  a  long  distance  system. 
The  door  to  his  den  was  always  locked,  and  no 
one  could  gain  admission  without  first  calling 
him  up  over  the  telephone. 

One  day  Mrs.  Marsh,  who  was  a  good  mimic 
imitated  the  voice  of  a  foreman  in  Mr.  Sea- 
bright's  factory  and  caused  him  to  open  the  door 
of  his  den.  When  Mr.  Seabright  caught  sight  of 
a  woman's  face  and  form  he  made  a  quick  at- 
tempt to  close  the  door,  but  Mrs.  Marsh  appre- 
hending such  an  attempt,  thrust  a  foot  in  so  as  to 
prevent  this. 

"Will  you  kindly  withdraw?"  asked  Mr.  Sea- 
bright,  excitedly,  holding  the  door  as  nearly 
closed  as  the  foot  would  allow. 

"No,  thank  you ;  I  have  had  too  hard  a  time  get- 
ting here,"  said  Mrs.  Marsh  cheerily.  "To  be  frank, 
Mr.  Seabright,  would  you  allow  a  lady  to  be  able 
to  truthfully  charge  you  with  discourtesy?"  asked 
Mrs.  Marsh  naively. 

Mr.  Seabright  opened  the  door  in  despair,  in- 
tending to  dart  out  of  the  room  as  soon  as  Mrs. 
Marsh  entered. 

Mrs.  Marsh  was  looking  for  just  such  a  step 
and  forestalled  it  by  closing  the  door  and  pocket- 
ing the  key.  She  now  took  a  seat  and  bade  Mr. 
Seabright  to  do  likewise.  Seeing  that  he  had  an 
unusual  character  to  deal  with,  Mr.  Seabright 


80  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

sat  down  resignedly  to  await  the  further  pleas- 
ure of  his  female  captor. 

Mrs.  Marsh  looked  directly  at  Mr.  Seabright, 
and  said,  "I  have  broken  through  all  rules  of 
propriety  in  order  to  get  to  you.  I  wish  to  say 
to  you,  Mr.  Seabright,  that  this  plea  of  absorp- 
tion in  your  business  is  all  humbug.  You  have 
other  and  secret  reasons  for  not  desiring  to  ap- 
pear in  our  social  circles." 

The  perspiration  broke  out  in  great  beads  on 
Mr.  Seabright's  face. 

"You  have  treated  your  wife  and  daughter 
shamefully,  refusing  to  honor  their  social  affairs 
with  your  presence,"  continued  Mrs.  Marsh. 

The  tone  of  reproach  in  this  remark,  indicat- 
ing that  Mrs.  Marsh  did  not  approve  of  his  ab- 
sence from  social  functions,  caused  Mr.  Sea- 
bright  to  feel  slightly  better,  as  she  evidently  did 
not  think  that  the  secret  reasons  governing  his 
course  were  to  his  discredit  personally,  else  she 
would  not  have  lamented  his  absence. 

"You  are  from  the  North  and  rate  the  South- 
ern women  as  being  beneath  your  notice,  do  you  ?" 
inquired  Mrs.  Marsh. 

"0  no!  no!  no!"  said  Mr.  Seabright.  "On  the 

contrary,  I  very  much  admire ,"  he  did  not 

finish  the  sentence,  some  fresh  thought  checking 
him  in  the  midst  of  the  utterance. 

Mrs.  Marsh  waited  for  him  to  finish,  but  he  did 
not  go  on  with  the  remark.  Finally,  finding  her- 


UNUSUAL  FOR  A  MAN.  81 

self  unable  to  make  any  headway  with  Mr.  Sea- 
bright,  Mrs.  Marsh  eventually  arose  to  go. 

"I  would  be  very  thankful  if  before  you  leave 
you  will  sign  a  statement  that  I  shall  draw  up," 
said  Mr.  Seabright  eagerly,  going  to  his  desk  to 
do  the  writing. 

Mrs.  Marsh  looked  at  him  a  much  puzzled  wom- 
an. His  phenomenal  success  as  a  business  man 
gave  proof  of  his  sound  mental  condition,  and  yet 
he  acted  so  queerly  about  everything  else. 

"I  wonder  what  sort  of  a  statement  he  wants 
me  to  sign,"  thought  she. 

The  paper  ran  as  follows : 

"This  is  to  certify  that  I  was  in  the  presence 
of  Mr.  Seabright  unaccompanied  for  a  few  mo- 
ments and  can  testify  that  his  treatment  of  me 
was  in  every  way  exemplary." 

Mrs.  Marsh  smiled  in  an  amused  manner. 
"You  are  making  me  testify  to  the  fact  that  I  de- 
served my  cool  reception.  I  will  sign."  So  say- 
ing she  attached  her  signature  to  the  paper  and 
departed. 

Mr.  Seabright  folded  up  the  statement  and  put 
it  among  his  most  valuable  papers.  "This  may 
save  two  hundred  and  eight  bones  from  being 
broken.  I  think  that  is  the  number  of  bones  in 
the  human  body,"  said  he,  double-locking  his 
door. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


A  Honeymoon  Out  Of  The  Usual  Order. 

HE  MUCH  heralded  Volrees-Seabright 
marriage  is  at  last  a  reality,  and  a 
morning  train  is  now  bearing  the  dis- 
tinguished couple  through  the  beauti- 
ful mountain  scenery  of  the  state,  en  route  to 
an  Atlantic  seaport,  whence  they  are  to  set  sail 
for  an  extended  tour  through  the  Old  World. 

As  the  porter  passed  through  the  coach  in 
which  Eunice  sat,  he  recognized  her  and  she  like- 
wise recognized  him.  Eunice  perceived  that  the 
porter  remembered  her  and  she  was  glad  of  it, 
for  it  simplified  the  work  before  her. 

In  order  that  they  both  might  look  directly  out 
of  a  window  Eunice  insisted  on  taking  a  seat  be- 
hind Mr.  Volrees.  Taking  advantage  of  her  po- 
sition she  wrote  the  following  note. 

"MR.  PORTER:  Enclosed  you  will  find  a  one 
hundred  dollar  note.  For  this  you  must  see  to  it 
that  this  train  stops  after  it  has  gone  a  few  hun- 
dred feet  into  the  long  tunnel.  Now  you  had 
better  do  as  I  tell  you  or  else  I  will  see  that  you 
(82) 


A  HONEYMOON  OUT  OF  THE  USUAL  ORDER.      83 

have  trouble.  You  know  that  any  white  woman 
can  have  a  Negro's  life  taken  at  a  word.  Be- 
ware! Do  as  I  tell  you  and  say  nothing  to  any 
one!" 

The  porter  took  the  note  and  read  it  with 
much  anxiety.  There  came  to  his  mind  instance 
after  instance  in  which  white  women  had  given 
innocent  Negro  men  great  trouble.  He  had  heard 
how  that  Negro  tramps  begging  for  food  had 
been  greeted  by  such  a  show  of  fear  and  excite- 
ment on  the  part  of  those  approached  for  food 
that  the  tramps  had  been  overtaken  and  lynched 
for  alleged  attempts  at  heinous  offenses,  when 
the  real  offense  was  that  of  begging  for  bread. 
He  recalled  one  case  particularly  that  took  place 
on  a  farm  adjoining  the  one  on  which  he  was 
reared. 

The  father  of  a  girl  seriously  objected  to  the 
attentions  being  paid  his  daughter  by  a  white 
man,  and  he  cautioned  his  old  faithful  Negro 
servant  to  keep  a  watch  upon  the  movements  of 
the  daughter  with  a  view  to  preventing  an  elope- 
ment. Seeing  that  there  was  not  much  hope  of 
outwitting  the  father  without  first  getting  rid  of 
the  Negro,  the  girl  decided  to  get  him  out  of  the 
way.  The  Negro  was  so  loyal  to  his  employer 
and  so  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  that 
the  girl  knew  that  she  could  not  attack  him  from 
that  quarter.  One  morning  before  day  she  was 
found  lying  upon  the  front  porch  of  her  home, 
her  dress  covered  with  blood.  When  after  much 
effort  she  finally  spoke,  she  laid  a  grave  charge 


84  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

at  the  door  of  the  Negro  servant.  He  was  ap- 
prehended and  a  mob  was  formed  to  lynch  him. 
The  father  of  the  girl,  however,  doubted  her 
story  and  insisted  that  the  Negro  be  given  a  trial. 
Within  a  very  few  days  the  girl  eloped  with 
the  suitor  so  unacceptable  to  her  father.  After 
her  marriage  she  testified  that  the  Negro  was  in- 
nocent, that  the  blood  found  on  her  was  the  blood 
of  a  chicken  sprinkled  there  by  herself  and  that 
she  concocted  the  whole  story  of  the  outrage  to 
get  rid  of  the  surveillance  of  the  faithful  Negro 
servant. 

The  perturbed  porter  canvassed  in  his  mind 
the  stock  of  alleged  facts  circulated  secretly 
among  the  Negroes  setting  forth  the  manner  in 
which  some  white  women  used  their  unlimited 
power  of  life  and  death  over  Negro  men,  things 
that  may  in  some  age  of  the  world's  history  come 
to  light.  After  thoroughly  considering  the  situa- 
tion, the  porter  succumbed  to  the  temptation  and 
concluded  to  stop  the  train  according  to  Eunice's 
directions. 

Eunice  read  in  the  porter's  eyes  his  acquiesence 
and  her  spirits  rose  high.  She  was  all  life  and 
animation  and  the  Hon.  H.  G.  Volrees  was  re- 
galing himself  with  thoughts  of  his  home  as  the 
social  center  of  the  life  of  Washington. 

"Let  me  bring  you  a  drink  of  water,"  said 
Eunice  laughingly. 

"And  where  does  Southern  chivalry  take  up 
its  abode  while  vou  do  that?"  asked  Volrees. 


A  HONEYMOON  OUT  OF  THE  USUAL  ORDER.     85 

"In  the  granting  of  the  first  request  of  a  newly 
made  and  happy  bride,"  said  Eunice,  playfully 
pulling  Volrees  down  in  his  seat  and  tripping 
gaily  out  to  get  the  water.  She  used  a  cup  which 
she  had  brought  along  and  into  which  she  had 
dropped  a  drug  of  some  sort. 

Volrees  drank  the  water  suspecting  nothing. 
As  the  day  wore  on  he  found  himself  growing 
very  sleepy,  but  did  not  associate  it  with  the  wa- 
ter which  he  had  taken.  In  order  to  get  his  busi- 
ness in  such  shape  that  he  could  leave  it,  he  had 
not  found  much  time  for  rest  of  late  and  felt 
that  his  tired  body  was  now  calling  for  rest. 
Eunice  arranged  a  tidy  little  pillow  for  his  head 
and  watched  him  sink  into  a  profound  slumber. 

Toward  nightfall  the  train  reached  the  desig- 
nated tunnel.  Eunice  under  cover  of  the  dark- 
ness, incident  to  passing  through  the  tunnel,  went 
to  the  door  of  the  coach  without  attracting  much 
attention.  When  the  train  made  the  stop  prear- 
ranged with  the  porter,  Eunice  dropped  off  of 
the  coach  step  and  stood  with  her  back  pressed 
against  the  tunnel  wall.  The  train  soon  pulled 
out,  the  officials  concluding  that  it  was  the  shrewd 
trick  of  some  tramp  "riding  the  blind  baggage" 
(between  the  baggage  and  the  express  car),  who 
desired  an  easy  way  for  alighting. 

On  and  on  rolled  the  train  bearing  the  sleeping 
Mr.  Volrees.  When  he  awoke  the  sunlight  of  the 
day  following  the  one  on  which  he  went  to  sleep 
was  falling  in  his  face.  Tied  to  his  wrist  he  saw 


86  THE    HINDERED   HAND. 

a  letter.  Looking  about  for  Eunice  and  missing 
her,  he  concluded  that  she  was  playing  some  joke, 
and  with  a  smile  he  took  the  note  from  his  wrist 
and  read: 

"DEAR  MR.  VOLREES:  Pray  act  sensibly  in  this 
trying  period  that  has  come  in  your  life.  Think 
well  before  you  act.  I  am  a  sincere  friend  of 
yours  and  really  like  you.  Now  it  will  pay  you 
to  do  just  as  I  am  going  to  tell  you  to  do.  Con- 
tinue your  journey  to  the  Old  World.  From  each 
point  mapped  out  for  a  sojourn  send  back  the  ap- 
propriate letter  from  the  batch  which  I  have 
written  and  am  leaving  with  you.  I  have  read 
much  of  the  places  which  we  have  planned  to 
visit  and  I  am  sure  that  my  letters  have  enough  of 
local  color  to  pass  for  letters  written  on  the  scene. 
Send  these  letters  back  to  be  passed  around  and 
read  by  my  friends. 

"In  some  foreign  country  telegraph  back  that 
I  am  dead.  Your  ingenuity  can  supply  the  de- 
tails. By  this  time  mother  knows  all  and  will 
join  me  in  my  advice  to  you.  When  you  return 
to  this  country  come  as  a  widower  and  enjoy  the 
money  which  comes  to  you  through  your  mar- 
riage with  me.  By  all  that  is  sacred  in  earth  and 
in  heaven,  I  swear  that  I  shall  ever  remain  dead 
to  you  and  will  in  no  way  directly  or  indirectly 
cross  your  path.  Nor  shall  any  one  save  my 
mother  know  that  I  am  alive  and  she  shall  never 
see  or  hear  from  me  again. 

"EUNICE." 

It  was  not  long  before  Mr.  Volrees  was  handed 
a  telegram  which  read  as  follows: 

"For  God's  sake  do  as  the  girl  directs.  So 
much  is  involved! 

"ARABELLE    SEABRIGHT." 


'"What  do  they  take  me  to  be,  a  knight  errant  of  hell 
and  a  simpleton  withal?     I  swear  by  every  shining  star  that 
I  shall  probe  to  the  bottom  of  this  matter  if  it  shakes  the 
foundations  of  the  earth,'  said  he." 
(86-87.) 


A  HONEYMOON  OUT  OF  THE  USUAL  ORDER.      87 

The  Hon.  H.  G.  Volrees'  wrath  knew  no  bounds. 
"What  do  they  take  me  to  be,  a  knight  errant  of 
hell  and  a  simpleton  withal?  I  swear  by  every 
shining  star  that  I  shall  probe  to  the  bottom  of 
this  matter  if  it  shakes  the  foundations  of  the 
earth/'  said  he.  He  took  the  first  train  back  to 
Almaville,  his  spirit  crushed  within  him,  though 
he  bore  his  sorrow  with  an  outward  calm.  He  ut- 
terly refused  to  discuss  the  affair,  as  did  also  Mrs. 
Seabright.  Almaville  society  had  not  received  so 
profound  a  shock  since  the  unexplained  course  of 
Sam  Houston  in  returning  his  young  bride  to  her 
parents  and  disappearing  among  the  Indians. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


Shrewd  Mrs.  Crawford. 

lETWEEN  Tiara  and  Ensal  there  ex- 
isted a  barrier  which  had  seemingly 
prevented  a  development  of  the  ties 
that  all  who  knew  the  two  expected 
with  full  assurance. 

The  attitude  of  a  Negro  on  the  social  question 
as  between  the  races  was  no  child's  play  with 
Tiara.  It  struck  at  the  very  root  of  the  deepest 
convictions  of  her  soul,  and  she  was  firmly  re- 
solved to  allow  no  Negro  into  the  inner  circle  of 
her  friendship  of  whose  views  on  that  question 
she  was  ignorant.  She  had,  as  she  felt,  prac- 
ticed "suspension  of  judgment"  with  regard  to 
Ensal,  and  assured  herself  that  he  was  making 
no  progress  in  her  esteem.  She  also  impressed 
Ensal  that  he  was  a  decidedly  stationary  quantity, 
no  further  advanced  in  her  esteem  than  on  the 
occasion  of  their  first  meeting. 

This  situation  did  not  displease  Ensal  alto- 
gether. He  felt  that  so  long  as  Tiara  did  not  and 
would  not  take  more  than  a  passing  interest  in 
him,  he  could  continue  to  keep  in  abeyance  that 
grave  question  as  to  whether,  in  view  of  the  drift 
of  things,  a  young  Negro,  absorbed  as  he  was  in 
(88) 


SHREWD  MRS.   CRAWFORD.  80 

the  question  of  the  condition  of  the  race,  should 
form  family  ties.  So  he  journeyed  along  cherish- 
ing an  ever-increasing  attachment,  but  content 
for  the  present  to  worship  her  at  a  distance. 

Mrs.  Crawford,  with  all  her  quietness,  was  an 
exceedingly  wise  woman.  She  did  not  know  ex- 
actly what  it  was,  but  she  knew  as  well  as  did 
Ensal  and  Tiara  that  there  was  an  artificial  bar- 
rier between  them.  She  also  knew  that  if  ever  a 
man  loved  a  woman,  Ensal  was  in  love  with  Tiara. 
And  she  knew  more.  She  knew  that  Tiara  was 
self-deceived;  that  Tiara  herself  would  be  the 
most  astonished  person  imaginable  when  she 
awoke  to  find  out  how  much  she  really  cared  for 
Ensal. 

Mrs.  Crawford  knew  Ensal's  reasons  for  hesi- 
tating to  form  family  ties,  but  did  not  regard 
them  as  substantial.  She  was  determined  that 
Ensal  and  Tiara  should  marry;  her  whole  heart 
was  set  upon  the  project.  Never  in  her  whole 
life  had  she  met  a  couple  more  clearly  designed 
for  each  other  than  this  pair,  as  she  viewed  the 
matter.  She  knew  how  firm  of  mind  both  Ensal 
and  Tiara  were  and  how  useless  it  would  be  to  at- 
tempt to  talk  to  either  of  them.  In  view  of  the 
secret  barrier,  Tiara  would  have  given  her  to  un- 
derstand that  the  matter  was  not  worthy  of  a 
second's  consideration.  As  for  Ensal  he  could 
not  have  been  brought  to  think  that  Tiara  came 
any  nearer  being  in  love  with  him  than  with  the 
rankest  stranger,  for  in  all  their  conversations, 


90  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

not  being  settled  upon  the  question  of  mar- 
riage, as  a  matter  of  honor  he  had  neither  sought 
to  develop  nor  to  test  the  strength  of  Tiara's  re- 
gard for  himself. 

Mrs.  Crawford  felt  fully  justified  under  the 
circumstances  in  forcing  matters  to  an  issue.  She 
perceived  that  to  do  this  involved  a  great  sacri- 
fice on  her  part,  the  temporary  loss  of  Tiara's 
friendship ;  but  she  decided  that  the  purchase  was 
worthy  of  the  price. 

One  night  as  Tiara  was  about  to  retire  to  rest, 
Mrs.  Crawford  dropped  into  her  room  for  one  of 
their  customary  chats.  After  talking  on  various 
topics  she  brought  the  subject  around  to  Ensal. 

"Now  there  is  a  young  man  that  inspires  many 
people  with  contempt,"  said  Mrs.  Crawford,  in  a 
manner  to  suggest  that  she,  too,  was  one  of  that 
many. 

Tiara  almost  fell,  clutching  the  footboard  of 
the  bed  for  support. 

"How  can  any  one  possibly  have  such  an  opin- 
ion of  Mr.  Ellwood?"  asked  Tiara,  in  tones  of 
deepest  injury. 

Mrs.  Crawford  merely  shrugged  her  shoulders. 

"I  have  never  met  a  nobler  man,"  continued 
Tiara. 

"Oh,  some  people  have  faith  in  the  fellow," 
said  Mrs.  Crawford  sneeringly. 

"You  seem  to  have  changed,  Mrs.  Crawford. 
It  hasn't  been  so  long  since  I  heard  you  speaking 
of  Mr.  Ellwood  in  the  highest  possible  terms." 


SHREWD   MRS.  CRAWFORD.  91 

"We  learn  more  of  people  from  time  to  time  and 
must  revise  our  estimates  of  them  in  keeping 
with  our  more  extensive  knowledge/'  replied 
Mrs.  Crawford. 

"Be  specific,  Mrs.  Crawford;  Mr.  Ellwood  is  a 
friend  of  mine,"  said  Tiara,  now  thoroughly 
aroused. . 

"Oh,  if  you  are  that  much  of  a  friend,  you 
might  not  be  competent  to  weigh  the  evidence  in 
the  case,"  said  Mrs.  Crawford,  smiling  and  aris- 
ing as  if  to  go. 

"Would  you  cast  aspersions  upon  a  person's 
character  and  treat  the  matter  so  lightly?"  asked 
Tiara,  a  flush  of  anger  appearing  on  her  face. 

"Things  other  than  moral  blemishes  inspire 
contempt  sometimes.  I  do  not  care  to  say  more 
about  the  matter.  Good  night,"  said  Mrs.  Craw- 
ford. 

Tiara  went  no  further  with  her  preparations 
for  retiring.  She  stowed  away  all  of  her  posses- 
sions in  her  trunk  and  locked  it.  She  then  sat 
down  and  wrote  a  note  to  Mrs.  Crawford,  thank- 
ing her  for  her  many  courtesies  and  expressing 
regret  that  she  found  it  beyond  her  power  of  en- 
durance to  longer  stay  under  her  roof. 

Tiara  now  went  to  the  telephone  in  the  hallway 
and  called  for  a  carriage.  It  was  not  long  in  com- 
ing and  she  was  soon  being  whirled  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Mrs.  Crump's  residence. 


92  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

Mrs.  Crump  was  glad  to  receive  Tiara  and  she 
was  again  assigned  to  the  room  in  which  she 
slept  on  the  night  of  her  arrival  in  Almaville. 
Tiara  did  not  go  to  bed,  but  rocked  to  and  fro, 
anxious  for  day  to  break,  eager,  so  eager  to  see 
Ensal.  At  length  the  question  crept  into  her 
consciousness:  "Why  are  you  so  enraged?  Are 
you  as  anxious  to  see  every  one  whom  you  have 
defended  as  you  are  to  see  this  one?" 

"My  God!  I  love  the  man!*'  said  Tiara,  rising 
from  her  chair  and  throwing  herself  face  down- 
ward across  the  bed.  "Oh,  I  must  never  see  him 
again.  He  might  read  this  awful,  this  maddening 
love  in  my  eyes." 

Early  the  next  morning,  Mrs.  Crawford  sent 
for  Ensal. 

"Mr.  Ellwood,  I  wish  you  had  been  more  frank 
with  me,"  said  Mrs.  Crawford. 

"Please  explain,"  said  Ensal. 

"I  took  occasion  to  discuss  you  rather  freely 
last  night,  and  I  seem  to  have  given  mortal  of- 
fense to  Miss  Merlow,  who  appears  to  be  madly 
in  love  with  you." 

Ensal  was  perplexed  and  knew  not  what  to  say. 

"Where  is  Miss  Merlow?"  asked  Ensal. 

"She  became  so  indignant  that  she  left  my 
house  last  night.  When  you  win  people's  love  to 
such  a  degree  as  that,  you  ought  to  post  your 
friends  so  that  they  may  be  careful.  Miss  Mer- 
low has  gone  to  Mrs.  Crump's.  I  shall  offer  you 
no  explanation  of  my  course  until  you  have  heard 


SHREWD  MRS.  CRAWFORD.  93 

from  Miss  Merlow.  Now  leave  me  and  go  to 
her."  Much  mystified  at  the  strange  turn  of 
events,  Ensal  took  his  departure. 

The  postman  early  that  same  morning  had  left 
the  following  note  at  Mrs.  Crump's  for  Tiara. 

"Ensal  Ellwood  is  a  noble  young  man.  You 
loved  him  and  did  not  know  it.  I  have  opened 
your  eyes.  Forgive  me,  dear,  but  I  could  not  see 
two,  whom  I  regard  so  highly,  so  far  apart.  As 
for  Ellwood,  the  lad  has  never  had  his  right  mind 
since  he  first  met  you. 

"MADGE  CRAWFORD." 

That  day  a  telegram  came  to  Mrs.  Crawford's 
for  Tiara  and  she  carried  it  to  the  latter 
forthwith.  When  the  two  met  there  was 
a  mischievous  twinkle  in  Mrs.  Crawford's 
eyes  and  the  light  of  happiness  in  Tiara's. 
When  Tiara  read  the  telegram  she  ap- 
peared much  disturbed.  That  night  she  left  Al- 
maville.  When  she  returned  she  bought  her  a 
home  on  the  outskirts  of  the  city,  took  Mrs. 
Crump  to  live  with  her,  and  denied  herself  to  all 
her  former  Almaville  friends,  Ensal  included. 
Eunice  Volrees  or  Seabright,  had  come  to  stay 
with  Tiara  and  the  latter  had  for  the  sake  of 
Eunice  shut  herself  out  from  all  her  friends. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


Alene  and  Ramon. 

LENE  Daleman  and  Ramon  Mansford 
stood  within  the  vestibule  of  the  for- 
mer's home.  Ramon's  arm  was  around 
Alene's  waist  and  her  beautiful  black 
eyes  were  upturned  to  his,  as  if  to  say,  "Fathom 
the  love  we  tell  of,  if  you  can."  Down  stoops 
Ramon  and  plants  a  fervent,  lingering  kiss  upon 
the  lips  of  the  girl  he  loves,  saying,  as  he  stroked 
her  hair, 

"The  last  token  of  love  until  the  minister  has 
his  say." 

"Let  me  have  a  last,  too,"  said  Alene,  tiptoeing 
to  plant  a  kiss  upon  Ramon's  lips,  and  thus  the 
two  parted. 

Light  of  heart,  Alene  went  tripping  to  For- 
esta's  room  and  said  : 

"Foresta,  as  you  know,  the  house  is  full  of  peo- 
ple who  have  come  from  a  distance  to  attend  my 
wedding.  You  need  not  stay  here  to-night.  I 
will  occupy  your  room." 

Foresta  was  very  glad  indeed,  as  an  early  re- 
lease enabled  her  to  carry  out  some  plans  of  her 
own. 


(94) 


ALENE  AND  RAMON.  95 

"Mama,"  said  Foresta,  her  face  buried  in  her 
mother's  lap,  "I  have  something  which  I  wish  to 
Lell  you." 

Her  mother  stroked  her  hair,  and  said,  "Tell 
me,  dear." 

"You  know  Mr.  Arthur  Daleman,  Jr.,  threat- 
ened you  with  the  penitentiary,  but  compromised 
the  matter  on  the  condition  that  I  should  work 
for  him." 

"Yes,  dear,"  said  Mrs.  Crump,  beginning  to 
breathe  fast  through  the  force  of  increased  ex- 
citement. 

"He  pretended  that  he  would  not  cancel  the 
matter,  in  order  that  he  might  be  sure  to  hold  me 
as  a  servant,"  said  the  girl. 

Foresta  paused  and  her  mother  said,  "Go  on;  I 
am  listening." 

"He  had  dark  purposes,  mama,"  said  Foresta. 

"Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Crump,  rather  feebly,  fearful 
of  what  was  to  come. 

Foresta,  detecting  considerable  anxiety  in  her 
mother's  voice,  looked  up  quickly. 

"Now,  mama,  don't  look  so  scared  and  troubled ; 
ii  isn't  anything  awful,  now."  So  saying,  she 
buried  her  face  again  and  continued  her  recital. 
"He  pretends  to  love  me,  mama.  He  has  tried 
many  times  to  kiss  me.  I  knew  what  kind  of  a 
sword  he  held  over  you,  and  while  I  resented 
his  advances,  I  sought  not  to  enrage  him  for 
your  sake." 

"Well!"  said  Mrs.  Crump,  thoroughly  alarmed. 


%  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

"I  kept  him  in  his  place  by  threatening  to  tell 
Miss  Alene.  He  thinks  lots  of  her  and  that  scared 
him.  He  wouldn't  care  about  anybody  else." 

Foresta  took  another  look  into  her  mother's 
face,  then  resumed  her  former  attitude.  Con- 
tinuing, she  said : 

"Miss  Alene  leaves  to-morrow,  and  I  am  afraid 
to  stay  there  with  him.  You  know  a  colored  girl 
has  no  protection.  If  a  white  girl  is  insulted  her 
insulter  is  shot  down  and  the  one  who  kills  him  is 
highly  honored.  If  a  colored  girl  u  insulted  by 
a  white  man  and  a  colored  man  resents  it,  the 
colored  man  is  lynched." 

Mrs.  Crump  let  a  tear  drop  and  it  fell  on  For- 
esta's  cheek.  Foresta  felt  the  tear  and  raised 
herself  and  said. 

"Now,  you  bad  mama,  you!  What's  the  use 
crying?  I'll  take  care  of  myself,"  a  fierce  gleam 
coming  into  her  pretty  eyes. 

Having  wiped  her  mother's  cheeks  free  from 
tears,  Foresta  buried  her  face  again. 

"I  am  not  going  back  any  more.  I  am  going  to 
get  married  to-night.  Bud  and  I  are  going  to  get 
married.  And  Bud  has  saved  up  enough  money 
to  pay  us  out  of  debt." 

Mrs.  Crump  now  understood  why  Foresta  was 
hiding  her  face.  She  remembered  her  own  feel- 
ings when  the  question  of  marriage  had  to  be 
broached  to  her  mother.  She  bent  over  and 
kissed  Foresta. 

"Bud  and  I  are  going   to   run   away   and   get 


ALENE  AND  RAMON.  97 

married.  Run  away  from  you,"  said  Foresta 
laughingly.  "And  you  must  be  awfully  surprised 
when  we  come  back.  We  are  going  to  do  this  to 
avoid  a  lot  of  useless  expense  in  getting  up  a 
big  wedding.  That  money  can  go  to  help  us  get 
rid  of  those  eating  cancers,  those  old  loan  men." 

Mrs.  Crump  knew  how  much  Foresta's  heart 
had  always  been  set  on  a  fine  wedding,  and  she 
knew  that  Foresta  was  making  that  sacrifice  for 
her  sake. 

"My  sweet  Foresta,  you  have  been  such  a  dear 
child — God  will  reward  you,"  said  Mrs.  Crump, 
burying  her  head  on  Foresta's  shoulder.  "This 
is  not  what  I  had  planned  for  my  darling;  but 
God  knows  what's  best.  His  will  be  done." 

At  the  appointed  hour  Bud  Harper  was  stand- 
ing at  Foresta's  gate.  Foresta  soon  joined  him 
and  th'ey  took  a  train  for  a  nearby  town  where 
they  were  made  man  and  wife. 

In  the  meantime  some  awful  things  were  hap- 
pening at  the  Daleman  residence.  Leroy  Crutch- 
er,  of  whom  we  caught  a  glimpse  or  so  in  an  ear- 
lier chapter,  happened  to  be  passing  along  the 
sidewalk  that  ran  parallel  with  the  side  of  the 
Daleman  residence.  As  he  reached  the  alley  at 
the  rear  of  the  yard,  he  saw  a  man  standing  on  a 
rock  looking  over  the  back  fence.  The-  two  men 
glared  at  each  other.  The  moon  was  shining 
brightly  and  they  could  see  each  other  well. 

Leroy  turned  away  and  walked  along  the  street, 
saying  to  himself,  "I  ought  to  have  shot  that 


98  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

scoundrel,  Bud  Harper,  then  and  there."  Reflect- 
ing a  little  he  said,  "No,  I  must  get  him  without 
hurting  myself." 

The  man  about  whom  Leroy  had  thus  spoken 
climbed  over  the  fence  and  crouched  in  the  shad- 
ow of  the  coalhouse.  His  eyes  were  fixed  on 
Foresta's  room  and  his  vigil  was  ceaseless.  At 
about  eleven  o'clock  Arthur  Daleman,  Jr.. 
emerged  from  the  hallway  of  the  second  story, 
paused  a  few  moments  and  crept  toward  For- 
esta's room. 

"Yes,  its  true,"  muttered  the  Negro,  between 
gritted  teeth,  the  look  of  a  savage  overspreading 
his  face.  He  clambered  over  the  fence  saying, 
"Wait  a  few  minutes,  happy  couple." 

In  the  meantime  Arthur  Daleman,  Jr.,  had  un- 
locked the  door  to  Foresta's  room  and  stood  as  if 
rooted  to  the  spot.  There  upon  the  bed  lay  Alene 
instead  of  Foresta,  as  he  could  plainly  see  by  the 
dimly  burning  light.  Fearing  that  Alene  might 
awaken  and  see  him,  he  quickly  turned  out  the 
light  and  stepped  from  the  room.  In  his  haste 
he  left  the  door  slightly  ajar.  What  took  place 
thereafter  the  morning  revealed. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


Unexpected  Developments. 

CCORDING  to  previous  engagement, 
Mr.  Arthur  Daleman,  Sr.,  Alene's  fath- 
er, and  Ramon  Mansford,  her  affianced, 
went  forth  together  for  an  early  morn- 
ing walk.  Arm  in  arm  the  somewhat  aged  South- 
erner and  the  young  Northerner  sauntered  forth. 

"My  boy,"  said  Mr.  Daleman,  "I  have  thought 
to  have  a  talk  with  you  concerning  the  dark 
shadow  that  projects  itself  over  our  section,  the 
Negro  problem.  Not  that  I  would  infect  you 
with  my  peculiar  views,  but  that  those  of  us  and 
our  descendants  who  abide  here  may  have  your 
sympathy." 

"My  love  for  Alene  invests  all  that  is  near  to 
her  with  my  abiding  sympathy,"  said  Ramon 
with  quiet  fervor. 

"Yes,  but  the  mind  must  be  informed  if  sym- 
pathy is  to  be  intelligently  directed.  To  begin 
with,  men  of  my  class,  families  like  mine  have  no 
prejudice  against  Negroes  nor  they  against  us. 
We  know  them  thoroughly  and  they  know  us. 
There  is  never  the  slightest  trespass  on  forbidden 

(99) 


100  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

ground  by  us  or  by  them.  It  is  a  boast  of  many 
Negroes  that  they  can  tell  a  'quality'  white  per- 
son on  sight,  and  practically  all  Negroes  ascribe 
their  troubles  to  a  certain  class  of  whites." 

"I  have  noticed  the  kindly  relations  between 
your  people  and  all  the  Negroes  that  have  had 
dealings  with  them,"  interposed  Ramon. 

"My  class  was  humane  to  the  Negro  in  the 
days  of  slavery  and  under  our  kindly  care  de- 
veloped him  from  a  savage  into  a  thoroughly  civ- 
ilized man.  But  I  am  glad  slavery  is  gone.  Un- 
der the  system  bad  white  men  could  own  slaves 
and  their  doings  were  sometimes  terrible.  They 
were  the  ones  who  made  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  pos- 
sible and  brought  down  upon  us  all  the  maledic- 
tions of  the  world.  Like  'poor  dog  Tray/  the 
humane  class  were  caught  in  bad  company  and 
we  have  paid  for  it.  But  all  of  that  is  in  the  past. 
A  word  about  the  present  and  the  future,"  said 
Mr.  Daleman. 

The  two  men  were  now  in  a  grove  of  trees  in 
the  suburbs  of  the  city.  Mr.  Daleman  took  a 
seat  on  a  stump  and  Ramon,  unmindful  of  the 
dew,  threw  himself  at  full  length  on  the  grass, 
and  looked  up  intently  into  the  face  of  his  pro- 
spective father-in-law. 

Mr.  Daleman  now  resumed:  "The  radical  ele- 
ment at  the  South  has  always  given  us  trouble. 
The  radicals  hate  the  Negro  and  nothing  is  too 
bad  for  them  to  do  to  him.  We  liberals  like  him 
and  want  to  see  him  prosper.  Such  of  us  liberals 


UNEXPECTED  DEVELOPMENTS.  101 

as  labor  to  keep  the  Negro  out  of  politics  do  so, 
not  out  of  hatred  of  him,  but  for  his  own  good, 
as  we  see  it.  We  hate  to  see  him  the  victim  of 
the  spleen  of  the  radicals  and  they  do  grow  furi- 
ous at  the  sight  of  the  Negro  in.  exalted  station. 
In  your  Northern  home  bear  in  mind  these  two 
classes  of  Southerners  and  remember  that  some 
of  us  at  least  are  anxious  for  the  highest  good  to 
all." 

Mr.  Daleman  now  paused  and  a  sad  look  came 
over  his  face. 

He  resumed :  "One  of  the  hardest  tasks  among 
us  is  the  suppression  of  lynching.  In  the  very 
nature  of  things,  as  conditions  now  exist,  there 
cannot  be  such  a  thing  as  a  trial  of  a  charge  of 
outrage  by  a  Negro  man  upon  a  white  woman. 
Often  in  cases  of  that  nature  the  crime  charged 
is  disproved,  by  proving  another  offense  involv- 
ing collusion.  Well,  no  lawyer  can  be  found  who 
would  set  up  such  a  defense  for  a  Negro  client  if 
the  white  woman  in  the  case  objected,  for  he 
would  be  killed,  perhaps,  and,  furthermore,  col- 
lusion is  punished  in  the  same  way  as  outrage. 
So  lynching  is  here  fortified.  Tolerated  and  con- 
doned for  one  thing  it  spreads  to  other  things 
and  men  are  lynched  for  trivial  offenses. 

"If  a  departure  could  be  made  from  the  cus- 
tom of  public  trials  and  jury  trials  in  such  cases, 
relief  might  be  found.  The  trials  could  be  secret 
and  before  a  bench  of  judges.  Care  for  the  feel- 
ings of  the  woman  and  her  guardians,  and  things 


102  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

will  be  better.  There  is  no  pronounced  sentiment 
among  the  better  classes  in  favor  of  lynching 
for  other  causes  and  it  can  be  put  down.  There 
is  marked  improvement  in  this  matter,  and  it 
may  be  that  lynching  may  be  stopped  without 
the  changes  in  jurisprudence  which  I  suggest." 

Mr.  Daleman  now  arose  from  his  seat,  saying, 
"Come,  my  son.  They  will  be  awaiting  break- 
fast for  us,  I  fear.  Tell  the  North  that  down  in 
this  Southland  there  is  an  element  of  as  noble 
men  as  the  world  affords ;  men  with  a  keen  sense 
of  justice  and  an  unfaltering  purpose  to  lift  our 
section  to  a  position  of  high  esteem  in  the  estima- 
tion of  the  world.  We  may  seem  to  work  at 
cross  purposes  with  you  of  the  North ;  we  may  be 
overwhelmed  by  waves  of  race  prejudice  from 
time  to  time,  but  we  are  here,  and  I  claim  to  be 
one  of  them.  I  challenge  the  man,  white  or 
black,  rich  or  poor,  to  say  that  I  ever  mistreated 
him  by  word  or  deed." 

"You  need  no  vindication.  Time  was  when 
practically  all  Southerners  were  classed  together 
by  the  outside,  but  that  day  has  passed." 

The  two  men  walked  back  home  in  silence,  Mr. 
Daleman  thinking  about  the  future  of  his  home 
without  Alene,  and  Ramon  thinking  of  his  own 
future  home  with  her.  When  they  got  back  to 
the  house  breakfast  was  ready  and  they  were 
soon  seated  at  the  table. 

"Tell  Alene  to  come  down.  T  know  the  child 
i?  a  little  shy  this  morning,  but  I  must  have  her 


UNEXPECTED  DEVELOPMENTS.  103 

by  my  side  this  once  more.  Go  for  her,  Arthur," 
said  Mr.  Daleman,  Sr.,  to  his  son. 

Arthur  involuntarily  drew  back  slightly  at  the 
request  and  his  father  cast  an  inquiring  look  at 
him. 

"I  hate  to  disturb  the  child's  slumbers.  I  doubt 
whether  she  slept  much  last  night,"  said  Arthur, 
in  somewhat  husky  tones. 

"He  hates  to  see  Alene  leave  him,"  thought  Mr. 
Daleman. 

Arthur  ascended  the  stairs  and,  coming  to 
Alene's  door  found  it  slightly  ajar.  He  knocked, 
but  received  no  response.  He  knocked  harder, 
then  again  and  again.  He  knew  that  he  had 
knocked  hard  enough  to  awaken  one  from  sleep, 
so  he  concluded  that  Alene  must  be  up  and  in 
some  other  part  of  the  house.  As  she  had  left  the 
door  open,  Arthur  decided  that  the  room  was  pre- 
pared for  entering.  He  had  a  secret  desire  to 
step  in  and  glance  around  the  room  in  which,  on 
the  previous  night,  he  stood  in  such  imminent 
danger  of  exposure.  Pushing  the  door  open,  he 
stepped  in  quickly,  but  far  more  quickly  stepped 
out,  terror  stricken.  Upon  Foresta's  bed  lay  the 
beautiful  Alene,  her  face  covered  with  blood  and 
her  hair  falling  over  her  face,  dyeing  itself  a 
crimson  red. 

Arthur  was  speechless  with  horror.  He  ran 
his  fingers  through  his  hair,  brought  his  hand 
down  over  his  face  as  if  seeking  by  that  means 
to  clear  his  brain  so  that  he  could  answer  the 


104  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

question  as  to  whether  he  himself  had  not  com- 
mitted the  murder.  Recovering  his  self-posses- 
sion in  a  measure,  he  dragged  himself  down  stairs 
to  where  Mr.  Daleman  was.  There  was  such  an 
awful  look  upon  his  face  that  Mr.  Daleman  was 
thoroughly  aroused. 

"What  is  the  trouble,  Arthur  ?"  asked  Mr, 
Daleman. 

Arthur  said  nothing,  but  made  a  motion  in  the 
direction  of  the  room  that  looked  to  be  as  much 
a  sign  of  despair  as  of  direction. 

Mr.  Daleman  rushed  up  the  stairway  and  into 
the  room.  A  glance  told  him  the  awful  story. 
The  kindly  light  that  always  lingered  in  his  eyes 
died  out  and  a  cold,  keen  glitter  appeared.  His 
form  showing  the  slight  curvature  of  age,  now 
stiffened  under  the  iron  influence  of  his  will  and 
he  stood  erect.  The  tears  tried  to  come,  but  he 
tossed  the  first  away  and  others  feared  to  come. 
No  more  bitter  cup  was  ever  handed  man  to 
drink;  but  he  quaffed  it,  dregs  and  all.  One  aw- 
ful unnamable  fear,  involving  the  motive  of  the 
crime,  haunted  his  soul.  The  family  physician 
was  sent  for  and  said  tenderly,  as  he  came  from 
the  room  of  the  murdered  girl,  "It  might  have 
been  worse."  Through  the  dark  sorrow  of  Mr. 
Daleman's  soul  there  shot  a  gleam  of  joy.  The 
two  men  clasped  hands  in  silence.  The  horror 
was  less. 

The  whole  city  was  soon  in  a  furor  of  exdte- 
ment.  Bloodhounds  were  put  on  tfie  trail  and 


UNEXPECTED  DEVELOPMENTS.  105 

about  noon  a  Negro  who  had  been  tracked  was  ap- 
prehended, sitting  quietly  on  a  bridge  a  few  miles 
out  from  the  city.  He  made  no  effort  to  escape, 
and  manifested  no  surprise  when  caught. 

"Have  they  killed  anybody  else?"  was  his  first 
and  only  utterance  to  the  officers  who  took  him 
in  charge.  His  captors  did  not  deign  to  make 
reply.  The  Negro  was  handcuffed  and  led  back 
until  the  party  arrived  at  the  outskirts  of  the 
city.  The  patrol  wagon  was  telephoned  for  and 
the  Negro  was  soon  safe  in  the  station  house. 
News  spread  like  wildfire  that  the  criminal  was 
in  the  prison  and  soon  the  street  was  full  of  thou- 
sands. A  mob  was  formed  and  an  assault  was 
planned  upon  the  prison.  The  chief  of  police 
came  out  on  the  steps  of  the  building  and,  with 
drawn  pistol,  declared  that  the  majesty  of  the 
law  would  be  maintained  at  all  hazards.  He  then 
retired  within. 

Nothing  daunted  the  mob  surged  forward.  The 
chief  of  police  came  forth  again  and  in  a  manner 
that  left  no  room  for  mistake,  declared  that  only 
over  his  dead  body  could  they  take  the  prisoner. 
His  long  record  as  a  daring  and  faithful  officer 
was  well  known  and  the  mob  now  hesitated. 

The  sheriff  of  the  county  was  out  of  the  city 
at  the  time  and  one  of  his  deputies  was  in  charge 
of  affairs.  This  deputy  had  been  laying  plans 
with  a  view  to  being  the  candidate  of  his  party 
for  the  office  of  sheriff  at  the  next  election,  and 
he  fancied  that  he  now  saw  an  opportunity  to 


106  THE  PIINDERED  HAND. 

curry  favor  with  the  masses.  He  elbowed  his 
way  through  the  crowd  and  held  a  whispered 
conference  with  the  leader  of  the  mob.  There- 
upon the  leader  took  his  place  on  the  steps  and 
harangued  the  mob  as  follows : 

"Fellow  citizens,  do  not  despair.  The  voice  of 
the  people  is  the  voice  of  God,  and  your  voice 
shall  be  heard  this  day.  I  assure  you  of  this  fact. 
I  beg  of  you,  however,  that  you  now  disperse. 
You  shall  meet  again  under  circumstances  more 
favorable  to  your  wishes." 

The  persons  in  front  passed  the  word  along, 
and  knowing  that  some  better  plan  of  action  had 
been  agreed  upon,  the  crowd  dispersed  into 
neighboring  streets. 

The  deputy  sheriff,  armed  with  the  proper  pa- 
pers, appeared  at  the  station  house  and  demanded 
and  secured  the  prisoner,  as  the  city  had  no  juris- 
diction over  murder  cases.  When  he  had  pro- 
ceeded about  a  block  with  his  prisoner,  a  group 
of  men  who  understood  the  matter  raised  a 
mighty  yell.  The  mob  which  had  dispersed  now 
reformed. 

The  prisoner  was  taken  from  the  deputy  sher- 
iff, and  was  hurried  to  the  bridge  connecting  the 
two  parts  of  the  city.  A  rope  was  secured  and 
the  Negro  was  dropped  over  the  side  of  the 
bridge.  As  his  form  dangled  therefrom,  every 
man  in  the  crowd  who  could,  and  who  had  a  pis- 
tol, leaned  over  the  railing  and  fired  at  the  Negro. 
The  rain  of  bullets  made  the  Negro's  form  swing 


UNEXPECTED  DEVELOPMENTS.  107 

to  and  fro.  The  crowd  finally  dispersed,  leaving 
the  body  suspended  from  the  bridge. 

Gus  Martin  had  kept  up  with  the  mob  from  the 
beginning,  walking  about  with  folded  arms,  be- 
traying no  trace  of  excitement  save,  perhaps,  the 
rapid  chewing  of  the  tobacco  which  was  in  his 
mouth.  His  blood  was  stirred,  but  its  Indian  in- 
fusion contributed  stoicism  to  him  on  this  occa- 
sion. 

When  the  whites  were  through  with  the  body, 
Gus  went  to  the  side  of  the  bridge  and  drew  it  up. 
Calling  to  his  aid  another  Negro,  he  procured  a 
stretcher  and  bore  the  body  to  Bud  Harper's 
home. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


An  Eager  Searcher. 

|p  AND  down  the  street  on  which  he 
lived,  Ramon  Mansford,  the  affianced 
of  Alene  Daleman,  walked  as  one  in  a 
trance.  Night  was  coming  and  as  the 

shadows  deepened  the  bitterness  deepened  in  his 

soul. 

"Think  of  it!  my  father  sleeps  in  an  unmarked 
grave  somewhere  in  the  South,  and  I  know  that 
the  hope  of  freeing  the  slave  actuated  him  to  en- 
list in  the  army.  For  the  Negro,  my  father 
buried  his  sword  to  the  hilt  in  the  blood  of  his 
Southern  brother  and  in  turn  received  a  thrust, 
all  for  a  race  from  which  this  vile  miscreant  has 
crept  to  murder  Alene,  my  Alene." 

In  the  darkness  of  his  own  calamity  distinc- 
tions between  right  and  wrong  began  to  fade 
away,  and  he  found  his  hatred  of  the  Negro  race 
aiS3uming  a  more  violent  form  than  that  manifest- 
ed by  the  native  Southerner.  In  his  heart  there 
was  the  harking  back  to  times  more  than  a  thou- 
sand years  ago — to  times  when  his  race  was  a 

(TOS) 


'What  have  you  done?'  sternly  asked  Ramon." 
(108-109.) 


AN  EAGER  SEARCHER.  109 

race  of  exterminators.  At  this  particular  time  it 
seemed  to  him  that  nothing  would  have  suited 
him  better  than  to  have  taken  the  lead  of  forces 
bent  on  driving  every  black  face  from  the  land. 
Now  and  then  he  would  pause  and  ask  himself: 

"Is  all  this  horror  true?  Is  the  sweet  Alene 
gone?  Was  the  dear  one  foully  murdered  while 
I  slept?  Great  God  of  heaven,  can  all  this  be 
true?  Must  I  go  through  life  unsupported  by 
the  brave  heart  of  Alene  on  which  I  was  depend- 
ing for  strength  to  conquer  worlds?" 

He  sat  down  upon  the  curbstone  and  buried  his 
face  in  his  hands. 

About  twelve  o'clock  that  night  a  Negro  wom- 
an came  rushing  along  at  full  speed.  Ramon 
seized  her  and  she  uttered  a  loud  scream,  falling 
in  a  helpless  heap  at  his  feet.  With  a  tight  grip 
on  her  arm  he  said, 

"Have  you,  too,  blighted  somebody's  happiness? 
Have  you  murdered  some  one?" 

With  terror  stricken  eyes  the  woman  looked 
up  into  his  face  and  said,  "Mistah,  please  lemme 
go,  please  sah!" 

"What  have  you  done?"  sternly  asked  Ramon. 

"Nothin'  sah,"  said  she.  "I'se  been  roun'  ter 
Dilsy  Harper's,  settin'  up  ovah  Bud  Harper\s 
daid  body,  whut  wuz  sent  home  frum  de  bridge. 
Wai,  sah,  ez  shuah  ez  dis  here  chile  is  bawn  ter 
die,  while  we  wuz  settin'  up  ovah  Bud's  body, 
Bud  hisself  walked  in.  We  looked  at  Bud,  den  at 
de  body,  en  we  wuz  skeert  ter  death.  Den  de  liv- 


110  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

in'  Bud,  went  up  an  looked  down  on  de  daid  Bud, 
and  de  daid  Bud  skeert  de  livin'  Bud,  and  de  liv- 
in'  Bud  fairly  flew  outen  dat  house.  Den,  bless 
yer  soul,  honey,  dat  ole  house  wuz  soon  empty." 

This  weird  tale  furnished  the  needed  diversion 
to  Ramon's  overburdened  mind.  His  thoughts 
began  to  run  in  another  direction. 

"Was  the  mob  mistaken?  Is  the  man  thought 
to  have  been  killed  yet  alive?  If  one  mistake 
has  been  made,  who  can  say  that  two  haven't 
been  made?  Is  her  real  murderer  yet  alive?" 

Such  were  the  thoughts  that  went  crashing 
through  Ramon's  mind  and  his  grip  on  the  wom- 
an's arm  slackened.  The  woman  wrenched  her- 
self loose  and  continued  her  journey  with  in- 
creased speed. 

As  late  as  it  was  Ramon  hurried  to  the  Har- 
pers' home  and  found  the  Negroes  standing  about 
at  a  distance  from  the  house,  discussing  the  sud- 
den reappearance  and  disappearance  of  Bud  Har- 
per, when  there,  all  agreed,  lay  Bud  before  their 
very  eyes. 

Ramon  returned  to  his  home  strangely  be- 
calmed, and  though  late  in  the  night  he  sat  down 
and  wrote  the  following  letter  to  his  home  in  the 
North. 

"MY  DEAR  NORFLEET:  I  am  in  the  throes  of 
an  overwhelming  sorrow.  My  Alene  has  been 
foully  murdered.  A  mystery  surrounds  the  case. 
We  cannot  fathom  the  motive  of  the  crime.  To- 
day (rather  yesterday  now,  for  it  is  two  o'clock 


AN   EAGER  SEARCHER.  Ill 

in  the  morning)  a  man  accused  of  murdering 
her  was  lynched.  To-night  the  man  who  was 
supposed  to  have  been  lynched  made  his 
appearance  at  his  home.  But  the  mother 
sticks  to  it  that  the  real  murderer,  her  son,  is 
the  corpse,  and  appearances  seem  to  bear  out  the 
contention.  Now  it  may  be  that  Alene's  murder- 
er is  yet  alive  and  that  an  injustice  has  been 
wrought  upon  somebody.  My  heart  is  more  firm- 
ly knit  to  my  Southern  white  brethren  than  ever 
before.  I  fling  ambition  to  the  winds.  Tell  my 
friends  that  I  shall  not  make  the  race  for  Con- 
gress, and  thank  them  for  me  for  the  way  in 
which  they  have  always  seconded  my  aspirations. 
It  pains  me  much  to  not  be  in  a  position  to  at- 
tempt to  scale  the  heights  which  their  loving 
hearts  fancied  I  could  make  with  ease.  I  shall 
walk  with  my  kith  and  kin  of  the  South  in  the 
shadow,  for  in  the  furnace  of  a  common  sorrow, 
my  heart  has  been  melted  into  one  with  theirs. 
We  of  the  South  (you  see  I  call  myself  one  of 
them) ,  know  not  what  the  future  has  in  store  for 
our  beloved  section,  but  we  face  the  ordeal  with 
the  grim  determination  of  our  race.  If  you  be- 
lieve in  prayer,  pray  that  I  may  be  just  and  may 
even  in  darkness  do  the  right. 

"RAMON,  THE  MAD.'  ' 

When  Alene  had  been  laid  to  rest,  Ramon,  af- 
ter lingering  in  Almaville  for  a  few  weeks,  dis- 
appeared completely,  leaving  behind  no  trace  of 
himself.  He  had  previously  given  Mr.  Daleman 
and  friends  assurances  that  he  would  do  no  vio- 
lence to  himself.  So  while  they  knew  not  where 
he  was  nor  what  was  his  mission,  they  were  not 
unduly  apprehensive  as  to  his  welfare. 


112 


THE  HINDERED  HAND. 


Ramon  Mansford  had  simply  stained  himself  a 
chocolate  brown  and  had  thus  passed  from  the 
Anglo-Saxon  to  the  Negro  race.  He  had  gone  to 
fathom  the  mystery  of  Alene's  murder. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


Peculiar  Divorce  Proceedings. 

ILSY  BROOKS,  would  you  'low  me  er 

few  wurds  wid  you?" 

Dilsy  Harper,  Bud's  mother,  paused 

in  her  knitting,  pulled  her  spectacles  a 
little  further  down  on  her  nose,  and  peered  over 
them  at  Silas  Harper,  her  husband,  who  had  just 
entered  her  room  and  stood  with  his  hat  in  his 
hand.  He  was  low  of  stature,  small  and  very 
bow-legged.  A  short  white  beard  graced  his 
chin,  while  his  upper  lip  was  kept  clean  shaven. 
His  head  was  covered  with  the  proverbial  knotty, 
wool-like  hair,  which  was  now  the  scene  of  a 
struggle  for  the  mastery  between  the  black  and 
gray.  Since  the  moment  that  the  news  was 
brought  to  him  that  Bud  was  accused  of  Alene'.s 
murder  he  had  been  acting  rather  queerly,  even 
after  all  things  were  taken  into  consideration, 
thought  Mrs.  Harper. 

The  tone  of  Mr.  Harper's  voice  and  his  sober 
face  led  his  wife  to  believe  that  he  was  now  about 
to  unbosom  himself.  As  he  had  seen  fit  to  call  her 
by  her  maiden  name,  Mrs.  Harper  did  not  deign 
to  reply. 

(113) 


114  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

"I  is  willin'  ter  'cept  yer  silunce  fer  cunsent,  as 
I  feel  I  mus'  say  whut  air  in  me/'  Mr.  Harper 
resumed.  Continuing,  he  said:  "Yer  been  'ceiv- 
in'  me,  Dilsy;  yer  been  'ceivin'  me.5' 

Mrs.  Harper  could  not  stand  that  impeachment 
of  her  honor  and  she  quickly  hissed, 

"Yer  air  jes'  a  plain,  orternary  liah,  Silas. 
I  is  er  hones'  'oman  myself.  But  cut  wid  yer 
pizen.  I  been  knowin'  'twuz  in  yer." 

"I  'peats  ergin  whut  I  dun  sed.  Yer  hez  been 
'ceivin'  me,  Dilsy;  yer  been  'ceivin'  me,  an  I  ken 
prove  it." 

Mrs.  Harper  cast  a  withering  look  of  contempt 
at  her  husband,  folded  her  arms  and  leaned  back 
in  her  chair,  more  puzzled  than  ever  at  his  queer 
course. 

"Now,  Dilsy,  let  me  ax  yer  some  queshuns. 
Wen  I  wuz  a  lad  in  slabery  time,  didunt  I  dribe 
my  young  missus  'bout  whar'  eber  she  went?  An* 
she  wuz  safe.  Didunt  dis  heah  same  Silas  do 
dat?"  said  he,  his  voice  rising  to  a  high  pitch  in 
his  earnestness.  "Wen  de  yankees  wuz  fightin' 
our  folks  and  our  mens  wuz  ter  de  front  in  bat- 
tul,  didunt  dese  hans  er  mine  hole  de  plow  dat 
brung  de  corn  ter  feed  my  missus  ?  At  night 
did  I  sleep  er  wink  wen  dare  wuz  eny  t'ing  lackly 
ter  pester  de  wimmins  ?"  said  he  in  the  same  high 
tones. 

"De  wimmins  befoh  de  wah  an'  since  de  wah 
an'  in  de  wah  hez  allus  hed  a  pertectur  in  old  Un- 
cle Silas,  an'  yer  knows  it!"  said  he,  pointing  his 


"  'Yer  air  jes'  a  plain,  orternary  liah,  Silas.  I  is  er  hones' 
'oman  myself.  But  out  wid  yer  pizen.  I  been  knowin'  't  wuz 
in  yer.'  " 

(114-115.) 


PECULIAR    DIVORCE    PROCEEDINGS.  115 

index  finger  at  his  wife.  "Wai,  I'm  comin'  ter  de 
p'int.  Bud's  done  kilt  er  'oman.  He  ain't  no  blood 
uv  min'.  You  ain't  been  er  true  wife  ter  me. 
He's  sumbody  else's  boy.  He  aint  mine.  My 
blood  don't  run  dat'er  way." 

Not  a  muscle  in  Mrs.  Harper's  face  moved  as 
she  listened  to  this  indictment  on  the  part  of  her 
husband. 

"An',  now,"  he  continued,  "you  needunt  min' 
'bout  sayin'  eny  ting  'bout  dis.  I  aint  gwine  ter 
say  nothin'  'bout  yer  ter  skanderlize  yer.  I  am 
gwine  ter  nail  up  de  doh  'twixt  you  an'  me.  You 
aint  no  wife  er  min'  fur  Bud  an  me  aint  got  de 
same  blood.  He  kilt  er  'oman." 

Mrs.  Harper  looked  steadily  at  her  husband, 
her  anger  gone,  now  that  she  understood  all. 
She  leaned  forward  and  parted  her  lips  as  if  to 
speak.  She  seemed  to  take  a  second  thought  and 
slowly  leaned  back  in  her  chair.  It  was  evi- 
dent that  a  debate  was  going  on  in  her  mind. 

"No,  he  talks  too  much,"  said  she  to  herself. 
She  adjusted  her  spectacles,  picked  up  her  knit- 
ting and  resumed  work,  a  gentle  look  of  forgive- 
ness upon  her  face. 

Silas  Harper  with  bowed  head,  and  shoulders 
more  stooped  than  common,  walked  from  the 
room.  Procuring  a  hammer  and  nails  he  soon 
had  the  entrance  from  his  room  to  that  of  his 
wife  securely  barred.  And  every  lick  that  he 
struck  was  like  unto  driving  a  nail  into  his  own 
heart,  for  he  loved  Dilsy,  the  love  of  his  youth, 


116 


THE  HINDERED  HAND. 


the  companion  of  his  earlier  struggles  after 
slavery,  the  joint  purchaser  of  their  four-room 
cottage,  and  the  mother  of  the  two  boys  whom  he 
had  hitherto  regarded  as  his  sons. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


Mists  That  Vanish. 

N  HIS  far  away  peaceful  Northern 
home,  Norfleet,  friend  of  Ramon  Mans- 
ford,  received  the  following  letter: 

"MY  DEAR  NORFLEET:  I  am  about 
at  the  end  of  one  of  the  most  shocking  and  most 
mystifying  affairs  known  to  the  human  race.  In 
keeping  with  my  resolve  I  disappeared  into  the 
Negro  race  for  the  purpose  of  fathoming  the 
mystery  of  the  murder  of  my  beloved  Alene.  The 
fact  that  I,  could  so  disappear  is  one  of  far- 
reaching  significance.  It  shows  what  an  awful 
predicament  the  Negroes  are  in.  Any  white  crim- 
inal has  the  race  at  his  mercy.  By  dropping  into 
the  Negro  race  to  commit  a  crime  and  immediate- 
ly thereafter  rejoining  the  white  race,  he  has  a 
most  splendid  opportunity  to  escape.  And  men 
who  commit  the  darker  crimes  are  not  failing  to 
take  advantage  of  the  open  door ;  but  I  picked  up 
my  pen  to  tell  you  my  weird  story. 

"Well,  I  actually  became  a  boarder  in  the  home 
of  Aunt  Dilsy,  the  mother  of  the  man  accused  of 
murdering  my  Alene.  By  mingling  with  the  Ne- 
groes I  came  in  contact  with  three  persistent  be- 
liefs which  I  investigated, 

"First  of  all,  the  Negroes  were  practically  a 
unit  in  holding  that  Bud  Harper  had  not  commit- 
ted the  crime. 

(117) 


118  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

"On  the  next  point  to  be  mentioned  the  popular 
belief  was  divided.  The  more  intelligent  class 
held  that  the  Negro  lynched  was  not  Bud  Harper, 
but  some  strange  Negro  resembling  him.  When 
confronted  with  the  fact  that  Dilsy  Harper  ac- 
cepted it  as  the  body  of  her  son  Bud,  they 
shrugged  their  shoulders  and  said  that  that  re- 
port came  from  the  white  officers  who  would 
pretend  that  a  Negro  had  said  just  any- 
thing and  that  Aunt  Dilsy  would  hardly  know 
Bud  after  the  mob  got  through  mutilating  him. 
They  believed  that  Bud  was  living  and  that 
he  had  come  home  while  the  body  supposed  to  be 
his  was  lying  there.  The  more  superstitious 
among  them  held  that  Bud  was  unjustly  killed 
and  his  ghost  had  come  to  the  wake,  and  that  it 
could  be  seen  almost  any  night  on  the  bridge. 

"I  found  whispered  around  in  a  rather  select 
circle  the  belief  that  Arthur  Daleman,  Jr.,  had 
killed  Alene.  It  was  thought  that  Authur  was  se- 
cretly in  love  with  his  foster  sister  and  in  a  fit  of 
uncontrollable  jealousy  had  murdered  her.  A  Ne- 
gro woman,  who  went  to  the  Daleman's  to  care 
for  the  house,  was  reputed  to  have  found  in 
Arthur's  room  appliances  for  making  one  assume 
the  appearance  of  a  Negro. 

"Now  all  of  these  rumors  I  investigated  and  I 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  truth  of  the  mat- 
ter was  as  follows: 

"1.     Bud  Harper  did  not  kill  Alene. 

"2.     Bud  Harper  was  not  hanged. 

"3.  Bud  Harper  and  not  his  ghost  appeared 
at  his  home. 

"4.  Dilsy  Harper  accepted  the  body  as  that  of 
Bud  to  prevent  a  further  quest  of  Bud. 


MISTS  THAT  VANISH.  119 

"5.  Arthur  Daleman,  Jr.,  bore  some  relation 
to  Alene's  murder. 

The  fifth  conclusion  was  forced  upon  me  by  the 
guilty  hangdog  appearance  of  Arthur  Daleman, 
Jr.,  which  some  people  mistook  for  sorrow  over 
Alene's  death. 

"Now  let  me  tell  you  the  strange  manner  in 
which  I  received  confirmation  of  these  things. 
On  taking  up  my  abode  at  Dilsy  Harper's  I  no- 
ticed that  she  and  her  husband  had  no  dealings 
with  each  other,  though  they  lived  in  the  same 
house.  To-day  I  came  home  and  found  the  door 
unbarred  and  Silas  Harper  sitting  in  his  wife's 
room,  his  face  all  wreathed  in  smiles.  Mrs.  Har- 
per had  been  called  away  and  he  proceeded  to  un- 
fold the  cause  of  his  previous  strained  relations 
with  his  wife  and  his  present  happy  state.  He  had 
separated  himself  from  her  by  the  process  of  the 
barred  door,  because  she  had  borne  him  a  son 
that  stood  unpurged  of  a  charge  of  having  mur- 
dered a  woman.  While  thus  separated  from  his 
wife,  brooding  over  the  disgrace  brought  upon 
his  name  by  his  reputed  son,  he  became  very 
sick.  His  wife  offered  to  nurse  him,  but  he  re- 
fused her  services. 

"In  order  that  Mrs.  Harper  might  be  near  her 
husband  in  his  affliction,  she  gave  him  informa- 
tion that  actually  cured  him — lifted  him  from  his 
bed.  She  explained  to  him  that  she  would  have 
told  him  before,  but  feared  that  he  would  tell 
abroad  what  she  confided  to  him,  and  thereby  oc- 
casion more  trouble.  He  promised  to  never 
divulge  what  she  had  said  and  kept  his  promise 
by  telling  me,  the  first  man  that  he  had  seen 
since  he  was  told.  And  here  is  the  strange  story 
that  disentangles  a  deep  mystery  and  solves  a 
question  which  I  was  determined  to  probe  to  the 


120  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

bottom.  I  give  in  my  own  words  the  story  told 
me  by  Silas  Harper. 

"This  couple,  Silas  and  Dilsy  Harper,  had  had 
two  sons  so  very  much  alike  that  hardly  anyone 
save  Mrs.  Harper  could  readily  distinguish  them 
when  they  were  attired  alike. 

"Dave  was  one  day  walking  along  the  street 
with  a  young  lady  when  a  policeman  collided  with 
them.  Words  passed  between  them  and  in  the 
fight  that  ensued  Dave  wounded  the  policeman 
and  was  sentenced  to  prison  for  twenty  years. 
Another  lad,  a  consumptive  was  sentenced  the 
same  day  for  two  years.  The  guard  that  took 
them  to  the  prison  did  not  know  one  from  the 
other,  and  at  the  suggestion  of  the  consumptive 
the  two  exchanged  names  and  sentences.  When 
Dave  Harper's  name  was  called  the  consumptive 
stepped  forward  and  registered,  and  when  the 
latter's  name  was  called  Dave  stepped  forward. 
The  prison  officials,  not  dreaming  that  a  man 
with  a  two  years'  sentence  would  exchange  with 
one  having  twenty  years'  sentence,  the  matter 
was  arranged  without  difficulty.  In  less  than  a 
year's  time  the  consumptive,  regarded  as  Dave 
Harper,  died  and  was  buried  as  such. 

"The  real  Dave  Harper  served  the  consump- 
tive's two  years'  sentence  and  was  duly  released 
from  prison.  He  was  so  chagrined  over  the  dis- 
grace that  his  incarceration  in  prison  had  brought 
upon  his  family,  he  did  not  make  himself  known 
at  home  when  released.  Desiring  to  live  in  Alma- 
ville  and  yet  be  free  from  the  danger  of  being 
identified  as  Dave  Harper,  he  found  employment 
in  a  saloon  patronized  only  by  whites.  It  was 
here  that  he  overheard  Arthur  Daleman,  Jr., 
telling  his  companions  of  a  pretty  'coon,'  Foresta 
Crump,  whom  he  had  slated  for  his  next  victim. 


MISTS  THAT  VANISH,  121 

Knowing  that  Foresta  was  Bud's  fiancee  he  deter- 
mined to  look  into  the  matter.  As  he  watched 
the  Daleman  residence  he  saw  Arthur  Daleman, 
Jr.,  enter  the  servant  girl's  room.  Judging  that 
Foresta  was  favorably  receiving  his  attentions 
Dave  determined  upon  the  killing  of  them  both. 
Thus  it  was  that  my  dear  Alene  lost  her  life. 
She  received  a  blow  that  was  drawn  to  her  by 
the  wicked  plannings  of  her  foster  brother. 

"Dave  Harper  supposing  that  he  killed  For- 
esta and  Arthur  Daleman,  Jr.,  ran  by  home,  made 
himself  known  to  his  mother  and  confessed  all  to 
her.  He  told  his  mother  that  Leroy  Crutcher  had 
seen  him  and  no  doubt  mistook  him  for  Bud  and 
that  he  would  therefore  be  compelled  to  hover 
near  the  city  so  that  he  might  return  and  con- 
fess to  the  committing  of  the  crime  in  case  Bud 
was  about  to  be  made  to  suffer  for  his  deed. 

"Such  are  the  facts  as  they  came  to  me  from 
Aunt  Dilsy's  husband.  I  have  confronted  Arthur 
Daleman,  Jr.,  with  the  matter  and  he  has  con- 
fessed to  his  part  of  the  awful  tragedy. 

"I  have  now  changed  .back  to  the  white  race. 
In  my  capacity  of  a  white  man  I  have  assured 
Aunt  Dilsy  that  Bud  Harper  shall  not  be  molested 
and  have  assured  Mrs.  Crump  that  it  is  safe  for 
Foresta  to  return.  The  two  women  are  happy 
souls.  I  have  succeeded  in  locating  Bud  and  For- 
esta and  shall  leave  at  once  for  the  purpose  of 
restoring  them  to  their  families  and  their  friends. 

"Mv  dear  Nor  fleet,  in  view  of  the  terrible  way 
things  get  twisted  down  here,  don't  you  think  it 
is  an  awful  shame  that  this  weak  and  often  hated 
race  is  denied  the  right  of  trial  by  jury? 

"RAMON," 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


The  Fugitives  Flee  Again. 

HEN  Bud  Harper  and  Foresta,  on  the 
night  following  their  elopement,  re- 
turned to  Almaville,  Bud  took  Foresta 
by  her  home  to  break  the  news  to  her 
mother,  leaving  her  at  the  gate,  while  he  went  to 
his  home  to  tell  his  mother.  Finding  a  corpse  in 
his  house  and  noting  the  terror  that  his  appear- 
ance seemed  to  inspire,  Bud  left  and  ran  back  to 
Foresta's  home.  In  the  meantime  Mrs.  Crump 
had  explained  the  situation  to  Foresta,  who  now 
told  Bud.  With  bowed  heads  and  troubled  hearts 
the  three  sat  in  deep  study  as  to  what  to  do. 

The  white  people  were  under  the  impression 
that  Bud  had  committed  the  murder.  They  had 
killed  another  man  thinking  that  it  was  he.  In 
case  they  now  apprehended  him,  would  the  popu- 
lar feeling  be  that  there  was  a  mistake  in  the 
lynching  or  a  mistake  as  to  Bud's  having  commit- 
ted the  murder? 

Bud  felt  fully  able  to  demonstrate  his  inno- 
cence, but  the  ruthless  mob  would  hardly  give 
him  time  to  collect  his  evidence,  he  feared.  Thus, 
though  innocent,  he  decided  that  it  was  best  for 

(122) 


THE  FUGITIVES  FLEE  AGAIN.  123 

him  to  leave  Almaville  and  remain  in  hiding  for 
a  time  at  least.  Foresta  asserted  her  determina- 
tion to  go  with  him  it  mattered  not  where  he 
went. 

Bud  gave  to  Foresta  the  privilege  of  choosing 
their  exile.  For  a  number  of  years  the  condition 
of  the  Negroes  in  the  cotton  states  farther  South 
had  been  weighing  heavily  on  her  mind.  She 
had  read  how  that  under  the  credit  system,  the 
country  merchant,  charging  exorbitant  prices  for 
merchandise  for  which  the  crops  stood  as  secur- 
ity, was  causing  the  Negro  farmer  to  work  from 
year  to  year  only  to  sink  deeper  and  deeper  into 
debt.  She  had  read  of  the  contract  system  under 
which  ignorant  Negroes,  not  knowing  the  con- 
tents of  the  papers  signed,  practically  sold  them- 
selves into  slavery,  agreeing  to  work  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  for  a  mere  pittance  and  further 
agreeing  to  be  locked  up  in  a  stockade  at  night 
and  to  pay  for  the  expense  of  a  recapture  in  case 
they  attempted  to  escape.  She  had  heard  much 
of  the  practice  of  peonage,  how  that  planters  and 
contractors  would  enter  into  collusion  with  mag- 
istrates and  convict  innocent  Negroes  of  crimes 
in  order  that  they  might  get  Negro  laborers  by 
the  paying  of  fines  assessed  on  these  trumped  up 
charges.  She  had  read  accounts  of  investigations 
of  the  prison  system  of  the  South,  showing  that 
the  various  states  made  the  earning  of  money  by 
the  prisoners  a  prime  consideration,  and  detail- 
ing how  brutal  overseers  were  wont  to  maltreat 


124  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

convicts  leased  to  them  by  the  state.  These  things 
coupled  with  the  absence  of  reformatories  for 
youths  were  destined,  Foresta  felt  assured,  to 
produce  a  harvest  of  criminals.  What  to  her 
mind  added  to  the  hopelessness  of  the  plight  of 
the  Negroes  was  the  fact  that  an  emigration 
agent  was  required  to  pay  such  a  heavy  tax  and 
stood  in  such  a  danger  of  bodily  harm  from  the 
planters  that  nothing  was  being  done  toward 
pointing  the  inhabitants  of  the  blighted  regions 
to  better  lands. 

Foresta  concluded  to  choose  Mississippi,  a  state 
in  which  conditions  were  in  some  respects  so 
thoroughly  forbidding,  as  their  future  home. 
Two  things  influenced  her  in  making  a  choice,  a 
desire  to  use  her  education  for  the  amelioration 
of  the  ills  of  which  she  had  heard  so  much  and 
the  thought  that  a  land  reputed  to  be  so  desti- 
tute of  hope  for  the  Negro  would  be  searched  last 
of  all  for  Negro  refugees.  So  the  two  had  gone 
forth  in  the  darkness  and  journeyed  southward. 

With  money  that  Bud  had  saved  they  bought 
a  small  farm  near  Maulville,  Mississippi.  It  was 
not  long  before  Foresta's  quiet  influence  was  felt 
throughout  that  region.  The  whites  who  had 
been  preying  upon  the  more  ignorant  of  the  Ne- 
groes were  not  long  in  tracing  this  new  influence 
to  its  source.  It  was  agreed  among  them  that 
the  Fultons  (for  such  was  the  name  assumed  by 
Bud  and  Foresta)  were  rather  undesirable  neigh- 
bors and  a,  decision  was  reached  to  put  them  out 


THE  FUGITIVES  FLEE  AGAIN.  125 

of  the  way.  The  thousands  of  individual  mur- 
ders, and  lynching  by  mobs,  had  so  blunted  the 
sensibility  of  these  whites  that  they  reached  this 
decision  without  any  qualms  of  conscience.  Sid- 
ney Fletcher  was  agreed  upon  as  the  man  to  rid 
the  settlement  of  Bud  and  Foresta. 

On  this  particular  afternoon,  Foresta's  hair 
was  hanging  down  her  -back  in  girlish  fashion.  A 
small  cap  sat  upon  the  top  of  her  head,  while  a 
blue  gingham  apron  protected  her  dress.  She  had 
finished  the  milking  and  was  walking  toward  the 
house  when  Sidney  Fletcher,  the  owner  of  a 
neighboring  farm,  approached  her. 

''Where  has  Tobe  Stewart  gone?"  asked  Fletch- 
er, in  a  very  gruff  manner,  inquiring  about  a  Ne- 
gro lad  who  had  run  away  from  him. 

Foresta  looked  at  him  steadily  without  reply- 
ing. 

"You wench,  you,  you  can't  speak  can  you? 

You  and  that  dad  blasted  man  of  yours  have  got 
the  big  head,  anyway,"  said  Fletcher,  drawing  his 
pistol  and  starting  toward  Foresta. 

Foresta  dropped  her  milk  pail  and  ran  into  the 
house. 

Fletcher  took  a  seat  on  a  bench  in  the  yard  and 
awaited  the  coming  of  Bud  Harper,  Foresta's 
husband,  who  was  out  hunting  and  was  not  due 
for  some  time  yet. 

Foresta  stole  out  of  the  door  on  the  other  side 
of  the  house  and  reached  a  patch  of  woods  with- 
out being  observed  by  Sidney  Fletcher.  By  a  cir- 


126  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

cuitous  route  she  was  able  to  place  herself  in 
Bud's  pathway  so  as  to  intercept  him  before  he 
reached  home. 

"Oh,  Bud/'  said  Foresta,  greeting  her  husband, 
"Old  Sid  Fletcher  is  at  our  house  waiting  for  you 
with  a  drawn  revolver." 

A  frown  came  over  Bud's  face.  "The  jealous 
knave,"  said  he.  "Ever  since  we  bought  this 
farm  he  has  had  a  dislike  for  me  and  I  have  been 
expecting  trouble  from  him." 

"Yes,  Bud ;  but  we  must  stay  out  of  trouble.  A 
colored  man  hasn't  a  dog's  show  in  thir  part  of 
the  world." 

Bud  sat  down  on  a  stump  and  Foresta  dropped 
at  his  feet. 

"Let's  stay  away  from  home  to-right.  We 
have  had  trouble  enough,  Bud,"  said  Foresta 
pleadingly. 

Bud  looked  down  on  her  tenderly,  and  said,  "It 
is  a  shame  for  a  peaceful,  industrious  man  to 
have  a  home  and  not  be  able  to  go  to  it." 

Just  then  Sidney  Fletcher  was  seen  coming  in 
their  direction. 

"Get  behind  a  tree;  nobody  knows  what  will 
take  place,"  said  Bud  to  Foresta.  She  obeyed 
and  Bud  now  calmly  awaited  the  approach  of 
Sidney  Fletcher. 

When  Fletcher  got  in  shooting  distance  he  de- 
liberately opened  fire  on  Bud.  After  the  third 
shot  Bud  raised  his  gun  to  his  shoulder  and  fired 
and  Fletcher  fell  backward  a  corpse.  Bud  and 


THE  FUGITIVES  FLEE  AGAIN.  127 

Foresta  now  looked  at  each  other  aghast.  They 
knew  the  penalty  attached  to  the  raising  of  a  black 
hand  against  a  white  man,  even  when  that  man 
unjustly  sought  the  life  of  the  black. 

Rushing  to  their  humble  little  home,  Bud  and 
Foresta  hastily  gathered  a  few  things  into  a  bun- 
dle, seized  whatever  food  there  was  in  the  house, 
armed  themselves  and  went  forth  as  fugitives, 
Foresta  attiring  herself  in  man's  clothing.  "By 
day  and  by  night,  through  fields  and  forest, 
swamp  and  morass,  avoiding  the  sight  of  man 
the  unhappy  couple  fled.  , 

The  news  of  the  killing  of  Fletcher  was  not 
long  in  getting  abroad  and  a  mob  of  several  hun- 
dred whites  was  soon  organized  to  give  chase. 
The  news  agencies  acquainted  the  whole  nation 
with  the  situation  and  day  by  day  the  millions  of 
America  scanned  with  eagerness  and  with  sad 
forebodings  the  progress  of  the  chase.  Several 
Negroes  who  happened  to  be  found  in  the  path- 
way of  the  mob  that  was  sweeping  the  country 
were  shot  down  or  hung  according  to  the  whim  of 
the  pursuers. 

The  two  in  turn  relieved  each  other  at  watch- 
ing, whenever  the  exhausted  condition  of  one  or 
the  other  imperatively  demanded  sleep.  It  be- 
came Foresta's  time  to  sleep  and  the  two  took  a 
position  behind  a  huge  fallen  tree,  Foresta  reclin- 
ing her  head  upon  Bud's  lap.  Soon  she  was 
asleep,  with  Bud  looking  down  in  tenderness  on 
her  pretty  face,  now  showing  signs  of  the  terri- 


128  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

ble  strain  that  they  were  undergoing.  Bud 
thought  of  his  position  as  her  protector  and 
gnashed  his  teeth  in  the  bitterness  of  his  soul  as 
he  contemplated  his  utter  helplessness.  Hot  tears 
coursed  down  his  cheeks  and,  dropping  on  For- 
esta's  face,  awakened  her. 

Foresta,  who  had  been  having  troubled  dreams, 
quickly  lifted  her  head  from  Bud's  lap  and  looked 
about  in  terror.  Turning  toward  him  she  saw 
his  eyes  reddened  from  weeping.  She  threw  her- 
self on  his  shoulder  and  the  two  now  gave  way 
to  their  feelings  for  the  first  time. 

"We  have  one  'consolation,  Bud.  They  can't 
destroy  our  love  for  one  another,  can  they?"  said 
Foresta. 

Bud  was  too  full  of  sorrow  at  the  plight  of  the 
wife  of  his  bosom  to  reply.  A  deep  groan  of  an- 
guish escaped  his  lips;  He  leaned  back  against 
the  log,  Foresta  still  clinging  to  his  neck.  After 
a  while  both  of  them  from  sheer  exhaustion  fell 
asleep. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


The  Blaze. 

ITTLE     Melville    Brant     stamped    his 
foot  on  the  floor,  looked  defiantly  at  his 
mother,  and  said,  in  the  whining  tone 
of  a  nine-year  old  child, 
'Mother,  I  want  to  go."  . 
"Melville,  I  have  told  you  this  dozen  times  that 
you  cannot  go,"  responded    the    mother    with    a 
positiveness  that  caused  the  boy  to  feel  that  his 
chances  were  slim. 

"You  are  always  telling  me  to  keep  ahead  of 
the  other  boys,  and  I  can't  even  get  up  to  some  of 
them,"  whined  Melville  plaintively. 

"What  do  you  mean?"  asked  the  mother. 
"Ben  Stringer  is  always  a  crowing  over  me. 
Every  time  1  tell  anything  big  he  jumps  in  and 
tells  what  he's  seen,  and  that  knocks  me  out.  He 
has  seen  a  whole  lots  of  lynchings.  His  papa 
takes  him.  I  bet  if  my  papa  was  living  he  would 
take  me,"  said  Melville. 

"My  boy,  listen  to  your  mother,"  said  Mrs. 
Brant,  "Nothing  but  bad  people  take  part  in  or 
go  to  see  those  things.  I  want  mother's  boy  to 
scorn  such  things,  to  be  way  above  them." 

(129) 


130  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

"Well,  I  ain't.  I  want  to  see  it.  Ben  Stringer 
ain't  got  no  business  being  ahead  of  me,"  Mel- 
ville said  with  vigor. 

The  shrieking  of  the  train  whistle  caused  the 
fever  of  interest  to  rise  in  the  little  boy. 

"There's  the  train  now,  mother.  Do  let  me  go, 
I  ain't  never  seen  a  darky  burned." 

"Burned!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Brant  in  horror. 

Melville  looked  up  at  his  mother  as  if  pitying 
her  ignorance. 

"They  are  going  to  burn  them.  Sed  Lonly 
heard  his  papa  and  Mr.  Corkle  talking  about  it, 
and  it's  all  fixed  up<" 

"My  Heavenly  Father!"  murmured  Mrs.  Brant, 
horror  struck, 

The  cheering  of  the  multitude  borne  upon  the 
air  was  now  heard. 

"Mother,  I  must  go.  You  can  beat  me  as  hard 
as  you  want  to  after  I  do  it.  I  can't  let  Ben 
Stringer  be  crowing  over  me.  He'll  be  there." 

Looking  intently  at  his  mother,  Melville  backed 
toward  the  door.  Mrs,  Brant  rushed  forward 
and  seized  him. 

"I  shall  put  you  in  the  attic.  You  shall  not  see 
that  inhuman  affair." 

To  her  surprise  Melville  did  not  resist,  but 
meekly  submitted  to  being  taken  up  stairs  and 
locked  in  the  attic. 

Knowing  how  utterly  opposed  his  mother  was 
to  lynchings  he  had  calculated  upon  her  refusal 
and  had  provided  for  such  a  contingency.  He  fas- 


THE  BLAZE.  131 

tened  the  attic  door  on  the  inside  and  took  from 
a  corner  a  stout  stick  and  a  rope  which  he  had 
secreted  there.  Fastening  the  rope  to  the  stick 
and  placing  the  stick  across  the  small  attic  win- 
dow he  succeeded  in  lowering  himself  to  the 
ground.  He  ran  with  all  the  speed  at  his  com- 
mand and  arrived  at  the  railway  station  just  in 
time  to  see  the  mob  begin  its  march  with  Bud 
and  Foresta  toward  the  scene  of  the  killing  of 
Sidney  Fletcher. 

Arriving  at  the  spot  where  Fletcher's  body  had 
been  found,  the  mob  halted  and  the  leaders  insti- 
tuted the  trial  of  the  accused. 

"Did  you  kill  Mr.  Sidney  Fletcher?"  asked  the 
mob's  spokesman  of  Bud. 

"Can  I  explain  the  matter  to  you,  gentlemen," 
asked  Bud. 

"We  want  you  to  tell  us  just  one  thing;  did  you 
kill  Mr.  Sidney  Fletcher?" 

"He  tried  to  kill  me,"  replied  Bud. 

"And  you  therefore  killed  him,  did  you  ?" 

"Yes,  sir.     That's  how  it  happened." 

"You  killed  him,  then?"  asked  the  spokesman. 

"I  shot  him,  and  if  he  died  I  suppose  I  must 
have  caused  it.  But  it  was  in  self-defense." 

"You  hear  that,  do  you.  He  has  confessed," 
said  the  spokesman  to  his  son  who  was  the  re- 
porter of  the  world-wide  news  agency  that  was 
to  give  to  the  reading  public  an  account  of  the 
affair. 


132  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

"Well,  we  are  ready  to  act/'  shouted  the 
spokesman  to  the  crowd. 

Two  men  now  stepped  forward  and  reached  the 
spokesman  at  about  the  same  time. 

"I  got  a  fine  place,  with  everything  ready.  I 
knew  what  you  would  need  and  I  arranged  for 
you,"  said  one  of  the  men. 

"My  place  is  nearer  than  his,  and  everything 
is  as  ready  as  it  can  be.  I  think  I  am  entitled  to 
it,"  said  the  other. 

"You  want  the  earth,  don't  you?"  indignantly 
asked  the  first  applicant  of  the  second. 

Ignoring  this  thrust  the  second  applicant  said 
to  the  spokesman, 

"You  know  I  have  done  all  the  dirty  work  here. 
If  you  all  wanted  anybody  to  stuff  the  ballot  box 
or  swear  to  false  returns,  I  have  been  your  man. 
I've  put  out  of  the  way  every  biggety  nigger  that 
you  sent  me  after.  You  know  all  this." 

"You've  been  paid  for  it,  too.  Ain't  you  been 
to  the  legislature7  Ain't  you  been  constable? 
Haven't  you  captured  prisoners  and  held  ?um  in 
secret  till  the  governor  offered  rewards  and  then 
you  have  brung  'em  forward?  You  have  been 
well  paid.  But  me,  I've  had  none  of  the  good 
things.  I've  done  dirty  work,  too,  don't  you  for- 
get it.  And  now  I  want  these  niggers  hung  in 
my  watermelon  patch,  so  as  to  keep  darkies  out 
of  nights,  being  as  they  are  feart  of  hants,  and 
yen  are  here  to  keep  me  out  of  that  little  favor." 


THE  BLAZE.  133 

The  dispute  waxed  so  hot  that  it  was  finally  de- 
cided that  it  was  best  to  accept  neither  place. 

"We  want  this  affair  to  serve  as  a  warning  to 
darkies  to  never  lift  their  hands  against  a  white 
man,  and  it  won't  hurt  to  perform  this  noble  deed 
where  they  will  never  forget  it.  I  am  com- 
mander to-day  and  I  order  the  administration  of 
justice  to  take  place  near  the  Negro  church." 

"Good!  Good!"  was  the  universal  com- 
ment. 

The  crowd  dashed  wildly  in  the  direction  of  the 
church,  all  being  eager  to  get  places  where  they 
could  see  best.  The  smaller  boys  climbed  the 
trees  so  that  they  might  see  well  the  whole  tran- 
saction. Two  of  the  trees  were  decided  upon  for 
stakes  and  the  boys  wrho  had  chosen  them  had  to 
come  down*  Bud  was  tied  to  one  tree  and  For- 
esta  to  the  other  in  such  a  manner  that  they  faced 
each  other.  Wood  was  brought  and  piled  around 
them  and  oil  was  poured  on  very  profusely. 

The  mob  decided  to  torture  their  victims  before 
killing  them  and  began  on  Foresta  first.  A  man 
with  a  pair  of  scissors  stepped  up  and  cut  off  her 
hair  and  threw  it  into  the  crowd.  There  was  a 
great  scramble  for  bits  of  hair  for  souvenirs  of 
the  occasion.  One  by  one  her  fingers  were  cut 
off  and  tossed  into  the  crowd  to  be  scrambled  for. 
A  man  with  a  cork  screw  came  forward,  ripped 
Foresta's  clothing  to  her  waist,  bored  into  her 
breast  with  the  corkscrew  and  pulled  forth  the 
live  quivering  flesh.  Poor  Bud  her  helpless  hus- 


134  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

band  closed  his  eyes  and  turned  away  his  head  to 
avoid  the  terrible  sight.  Men  gathered  about 
him  and  forced  his  eyelids  open  so  that  he  could 
see  all. 

When  it  was  thought  that  Foresta  had  been 
tortured  sufficiently,  attention  was  turned  to  Bud. 
His  fingers  were  cut  off  one  by  one  and  the  cork- 
screw was  bored  into  his  legs  and  arms.  A  man 
with  a  club  struck  him  over  the  head,  crushing 
his  skull  and  forcing  an  eyeball  to  hang  down 
from  the  socket  by  a  thread.  A  rush  was  made 
toward  Bud  and  a  man  who  was  a  little  ahead  of 
his  competitors  snatched  the  eyeball  as  a  sou- 
venir. 

After  three  full  hours  had  been  spent  in  tor- 
turing the  two,  the  spokesman  announced  that 
they  were  now  ready  for  the  final  act.  The  broth- 
er of  Sidney  Fletcher  was  called  for  and  was 
given  a  match.  He  stood  near  his  mutilated  vic- 
tims until  the  photographer  present  could  take  a 
picture  of  the  scene.  This  being  over  the  match 
was  applied  and  the  flames  leaped  up  eagerly  and 
encircled  the  writhing  forms  of  Bud  and  Foresta. 

When  the  flames  had  done  their  work  and  had 
subsided,  a  mad  rush  was  made  for  the  trees 
which  were  soon  denuded  of  bark,  each  member 
of  the  mob  being  desirous,  it  seemed,  of  carrying 
away  something  that  might  testify  to  his  proxim- 
ity to  so  great  a  happening. 

Little  Melville  Brant  found  a  piece  of  the 
charred  flesh  in  the  ashes  and  bore  it  home. 


1  i 
i  | 

"d" 

8 

,Q 
§ 

^4 


THE  BLAZE.  135 

"Ben  Stringer  aint  got  anything  on  me  now," 
said  he  as  he  trudged  along  in  triumph. 

Entering  by  the  rear  he  caught  hold  of  the  rope 
which  he  had  left  hanging,  ascended  to  the  attic 
window  and  crawled  in. 

The  future  ruler  of  the  land ! 
*  $  *  *  *  * 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  lynching  Ramon  Mans- 
ford  alighted  from  the  train  at  Maulville  in 
search  of  Bud  and  Foresta.  He  noted  the  holi- 
day appearance  of  the  crowd  as  it  swarmed 
around  the  depot  awaiting  the  going  of  the  spe- 
cial trains  that  had  brought  the  people  to  Maul- 
ville to  see  the  lynching,  and,  not  knowing  the  oc- 
casion that  had  brought  them  together,  said  with- 
in himself: 

"This  crowd  looks  happy  enough.  The  South 
is  indeed  sunny  and  sunny  are  the  hearts  of  its 
people." 

At  length  he  approached  a  man,  who  like  him- 
self seemed  to  be  an  onlooker.  Using  the  names 
under  which  Mrs.  Harper  told  him  that  Bud  and 
Foresta  were  passing,  he  made  inquiry  of  them. 
The  man  looked  at  him  in  amazement. 

"You  have  just  got  in,  have  you?"  Asked  the 
man  of  Ramon. 

"Yes,"  he  replied. 

"Haven't  you  been  reading  the  papers?"  fur- 
ther inquired  the  man. 

"Not  lately,  I  must  confess;  I  have  been  so  ab- 
sorbed in  unraveling  a  murder  mystery  (the  v;c- 


136  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

tim  being  one  very  dear  to  me)  that  I  have  not 
read  the  papers  for  the  last  few  days." 

"We  burned  the  people  to-day  that  you  are  look- 
ing for." 

"Burned  them?"   asked   Ramon   incredulously. 

"Yes,  burned  them." 

"The  one  crime!"  gasped  Ramon. 

"I  understand  you, "said  the  man.  "You  want 
to  know  how  we  square  the  burning  of  a  woman 
with  the  statement  that  we  lynch  for  one  crime 
in  the  South,  heh?" 

The  shocked  Ramon  nodded  affirmatively. 

"That's  all  rot  about  one  crime.  We  lynch  nig- 
gers down  here  for  anything.  We  lynch  them 
for  being  sassy  and  sometimes  lynch  them  on 
general  principles.  The  truth  of  the  matter  is 
the  real  'one  crime'  that  paves  the  way  for  a 
lynching  whenever  we  have  the  notion,  is  the 
crime  of  being  black." 

"Burn  them!  The  one  crime!"  murmured 
Ramon,  scarcely  knowing  what  he  said.  With 
bowed  head  and  hands  clasped  behind  him  he 
walked  away  to  meditate. 

"After  all,  do  not  I  see  to-day  a  gleam  of  light 
thrown  on  the  taking  away  of  my  Alene?  With 
murder  and  lawnessness  rampant  in  the  South-- 
land, this  section's  woes  are  to  be  many.  Who  can 
say  what  bloody  orgies  Alene  has  escaped?  Who 
can  tell  the  contents  of  the  storm  cloud  that 
hangs  low  over  this  section  where  the  tragedy  of 


THE  BLAZE.  137 

the  ages  is  being  enacted?     Alene,  0  Alene,  my 
spirit  longs  for  thee!" 

Ramon  took  the  train  that  night — not  for  Al- 
maville,  for  he  had  not  the  heart  to  bear  the  ter- 
rible tidings  to  those  helpless,  waiting,  simple 
folks,  the  parents  of  Bud  and  Foresta.  He  went 
North  feeling  that  some  day  somehow  he  might 
be  called  upon  to  revisit  the  South  as  its  real 
friend,  but  seeming  foe.  And  he  shuddered  at 
the  thought. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


Planning  To  Act. 

N  THE  morning  following  the  Maul- 
ville  tragedy,  before  Ensal  was  out  of 
bed  Earl  was  tugging  viciously  at  his 
door  bell.  Recognizing  the  note  of  dis- 
tress in  the  clang  of  the  bell,  Ensal  arose,  quickly 
attired  himself  and  hurried  to  the  door. 

"Oh,  it  is  my  good  friend,  Earl.     Glad—" 

Ensal  stopped  short  in  the  midst  of  his  cordial 
greeting,  so  struck  was  he  by  that  look  on  Earl's 
face  that  said  plainly  that  some  overmastering 
purpose  had  full  charge  of  the  man. 

"Walk  back,"  said  Ensal,  in  a  more  subdued 
manner,  leading  the  way  to  his  room  and  steady- 
ing himself  to  meet  some  grave  crisis  which 
Earl's  demeanor  plainly  told  him  was  at  hand. 

"And  what  may  I  do  for  my  friend?"  asked 
Ensal  soothingly,  when  the  two  had  taken  seats 
facing  each  other. 

Earl  placed  an  elbow  on  his  knee,  using  his 
hand  as  a  rest  for  his  throbbing  temples.  Turn- 
ing his  eyes  full  in  the  direction  of  Ensal,  as  if 
searching  for  the  very  bottom  of  the  latter's  soul, 
he  said, 

(138) 


PLANNING  TO  ACT.  139 

"Have  you  read  the  morning  paper?" 

"No,"  replied  Ensal. 

"Read,"  said  Earl,  taking  a  paper  from  his 
pocket  and  handing  it  to  Ensal. 

"My  God!  This  cannot  be  true!"  exclaimed 
Ensal  in  tones  of  horror,  as  he  read  the  detailed 
account  of  the  Maulville  burning.  He  arose  and 
strode  to  and  fro  across  the  room. 

"Never  in  all  my  wide  range  of  reading  have  I 
ever  come  across  a  more  reprehensible  occur- 
rence," muttered  he. 

"Listen,"  said  Earl,  in  the  tone  of  one  having 
more  to  add. 

Ensal  paused  in  his  walking  and  unconsciously 
lifted  his  hand  as  though  to  ward  off  a  blow. 

"The  man  and  his  wife  who  were  burned  at  the 
stake  were  Bud  and  Foresta." 

"What!  Our  Bud!  Laughing,  innocent,  whole- 
souled  Foresta!"  almost  shouted  Ensal,  the  hor- 
ror, through  the  personal  element  brought  into 
the  matter,  now  doubling  its  force. 

"Poor  Mrs.  Crump!  Poor  Negro  womanhood! 
Crucified  at  the  stake,  while  we  men  play  the  part 
of  women,  for,  what  can  we  do?"  said  Ensal,  look- 
ing at  Earl,  tears  of  pity  for  his  people  welling 
up  in  his  eyes  and  stealing  their  way  down  his 
noble  face. 

"This  is  at  once  the  saddest  and  the  sweetest 
moment  of  all  my  life,"  said  Earl,  rising.  Con- 
tinuing, he  said: 


140  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

-  "The  fact  that  a  race  that  lashes  itself  into  a 
fury  and  cries  aloud  for  the  sympathy  of  the  out- 
side world  if  a  Negro  casts  a  look  of  respectful 
admiration  in  the  direction  of  a  white  woman, 
finds  no  limit  to  what  it  will  do  to  the  women 
of  our  race,  fills  my  cup  of  humiliation  to  the 
brim.  But  I  find  a  measure  of  compensation  in 
the  fact  that  you,  dear  Ensal,  the  arch-conserva- 
tive, have  at  last  been  stirred  to  action." 

Earl  now  paused  to  give  emphasis  to  what  he 
was  to  say  next. 

"Ensal,  the  Christ  has  bidden  you,  you  say, 
to  preach  his  Gospel  to  every  creature.  If  the 
white  people  of  the  South  permitted  you  to 
preach  the  Gospel  to  them,  you  would  have  some 
basis  for  the  hope  that  you  would  be  contributing 
your  due  share  to  the  work  of  altering  these  un- 
toward conditions.  Since  they  deny  you  your 
way  of  reaching  them,  come  and  go  our  way," 
said  Earl. 

"Have  you  at  last  found  a  plan  of  escape  from 
our  awful  condition  that  commends  itself  to  your 
sober  judgment,  Earl?"  asked  Ensal,  looking  his 
friend  earnestly  in  the  face. 

"I  have"  said  Earl. 

"Earl,  come  back  to-night.  My  spirit  is  tired, 
tired.  Give  me  the  day  for  the  finding  of  my 
truer  self.  I  doubt  whether  the  elements  which 
this  terrible  shock  has  brought  to  the  surface  can 
be  trusted  to  pass  sanely  upon  matters  of  such 
vast  importance." 


PLANNING  TO  ACT.  141 

Earl  accepted  the  suggestion  and  departed. 

During  that  day  the  two  busiest  brains  in  all 
the  world,  perhaps,  were  the  brains  of  these  two 
Negroes:  Earl,  arranging  for  the  successful 
carrying  out  of  his  plans,  and  Ensal  for- 
tifying himself  for  events  which  he  knew 
would  largely  affect  the  destiny  of  his  peo- 
ple. He  knew  not  the  details  nor  even  the  direc- 
tion of  Earl's  plans,  but  he  knew  that  Earl  was 
every  inch  a  soldier  and  that  the  blood  of  some 
of  the  mightiest  captains  of  the  English  speak- 
ing people  was  coursing  through  his  veins. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


The  Two  Pathways. 

HE  DAY  wore  on,  and  about  dusk  Earl 
returned  to  Ensal's  home,  and  the  two 
at  once  entered  upon  the  consideration 
of  the  grave  matter  that  was  to  be  the 
subject  of  their  conference. 

"Before  giving  my  plan,  Ensal,  I  will  present 
the  course  of  reasoning  that  leads  me  up  to  the 
conclusion  that  it  is  the  one  path  to  pursue/'  be- 
gan Earl. 

"So  do,"  said  Ensal. 

"The  men  and  women,"  began  Earl,  "who 
moulded  the  sentiment  that  led  to  our 
emancipation  and  enfranchisement,  who  set 
in  motion  the  influences  that  have  tended 
toward  our  general  uplift,  are  fast  passing 
away.  I  am  told  that  the  younger  generation 
now  coming  into  power  in  the  North  is  not  as 
enthusiastic  over  the  matter  of  helping  us  as 
were  their  fathers.  As  I  see  the  matter,  several 
influences  are  at  work  producing  these  changes. 
"First:  A  very  natural  desire  on  the  part  of 
Northern  people  to  be  on  more  pleasant  terms 
with  their  blood  relations  of  the  South. 
(142) 


THE  TWO  PATHWAYS.  143 

"Second:  The  moving  of  whites  from  the 
South  to  the  North,  where,  in  social  circles  from 
which  Negroes  are  debarred,  they  mould  senti- 
ment against  the  Negro.  There  are  more  than 
one  million  five  hundred  thousand  Southern 
white  people  in  the  North. 

"Third:  Among  the  Negroes  going  North 
there  is  a  shiftless,  criminal  element,  whose  ten- 
dency downward  is  aided  by  the  prejudice  against 
Negroes  in  labor  circles  of  the  North.  This  class 
of  Negroes  in  some  parts  of  the  North  almost 
monopolizes  the  attention  of  the  criminal  courts 
and  the  result  is  an  erroneous  opinion  with  re- 
gard to  the  race  as  a  whole. 

"Fourth :  There  is  a  decided  drift  of  North- 
ern capital  to  the  South.  The  greater  the  hold- 
ings of  the  North  in  the  South,  the  greater  the 
indisposition  of  at  least  that  element  to  have  con- 
ditions down  here  disturbed,  I  think.  I  believe 
that  by  acting  now  we  shall  receive  far  more 
sympathy  from  the  North  than  we  would  be 
likely  to  get  a  few  years  later." 

"Suppose,  for  the  sake  of  progress  in  the  dis- 
cussion we  concede  the  validity  of  your  conclu- 
sions. Granting  that  the  present  is  the  time  to 
act,  what  would  you  do?"  asked  Ensal. 

"Let  me  state  first  of  all  what  I  would  not  do. 
I  would  not  attempt  an  exodus.  The  white  peo- 
ple of  the  South  would  resort  to  force  to  prevent 
our  leaving  in  a  mass.  I  would  not  attempt  a 
general  uprising.  They  have  absolute  charge  of 


144  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

the  means  of  transportation  and  intercommunica- 
tion as  well  as  the  control  of  the  necessary  equip- 
ments for  waging  war." 

Earl  now  paused  and  looked  steadily  at  Ensal, 
who  awaited  with  almost  breathless  anxiety 
Earl's  next  words. 

"When  I  was  a  lad  I  declaimed  the  address  of 
Leonidas  to  his  brave  Spartan  band,  and  the  idea 
of  a  vicarious  offering  has  ever  since  lain  heavily 
on  my  heart. 

"In  Almaville  here  I  have  a  picked  band  of  five 
hundred  men  who  are  not  afraid  to  die.  To-night 
we  shall  creep  upon  yonder  hill  and  take  charge 
of  the  state  capitol.  When  the  city  awakes  to- 
morrow morning  it  will  find  itself  at  our  mercy. 
We  also  have  a  force  of  men  which  will  take 
charge  of  the  United  States  government  building. 
This  will  serve  to  make  it  a  national  question. 

"When  called  upon  to  surrender,  we  shall  issue 
a  proclamation  setting  forth  our  grievances  as  a 
race  and  demanding  that  they  be  righted.  Of 
course,  what  we  shall  call  for  cannot  be  done  at 
once,  and  our  surrender  will  be  called  for. 

"We  shall  not  surrender.  Each  one  of  us  has 
solemnly  sworn  not  to  come  out  of  the  affair 
alive,  even  if  we  have  to  commit  suicide.  Our 
act  will  open  the  eyes  of  the  American  people  to 
the  gravity  of  this  question  and  they  will  act. 
Once  in  motion  I  am  not  afraid  of  what  they  will 
do.  I  am  not  fearful  of  America  awake,  but  of 
America  asleep. 


THE  TWO  PATHWAYS.  145 

"Such  is  my  plan.  In  brief,  it  is  the  determi- 
nation of  desperate  men  to  provoke  intervention. 

"Look  at  Cuba.  A  handful  of  men  stayed  in 
the  field  and  kept  up  a  show  of  resistance  until 
our  great  nation  intervened.  It  is  within  the 
power  of  the  Negro  race  to  bring  about  inter- 
vention at  any  time  that  it  is  willing  to  pay  the 
price.  I  have  found  the  men  and  recruited  them 
from  the  ranks  of  the  plain  people  who  were  al- 
ready ripe  for  action  for  the  following  reasons: 

"Labor  circles  here  are  just  now  very  bitter  to- 
ward the  city  government  because  of  its  course 
toward  Negro  roustabouts.  The  white  men  in 
charge  of  the  boats  that  ply  the  river,  fed  their 
Negro  hands  poorly  and  made  the  whole  crew  eat 
with  spoons  out  of  one  pan.  They  were  afforded 
no  sleeping  accommodations,  being  forced  to 
sleep  on  the  bare  floor.  If  a  piece  of  freight  was 
accidentally  dropped  overboard  the  Negro  who 
did  it  was  forced  to  jump  into  the  water  after  it 
or-  be  clubbed  to  death.  Some  roustabouts  who 
were  forced  to  jump  overboard  to  recover  freight 
lost  their  lives.  These  things  have  influenced  the 
Negroes  to  abhor  roustabout  work.  But  the  police 
force,  in  the  interest  of  the  boatmen,  pounced 
down  upon  the  Negroes  and  forced  them  to  do  the 
work,  and  this  course  is  practically  urged  by  one 
of  our  leading  daily  newspapers.  In  this  condi- 
tion of  affairs,  the  laboring  Negro  sees  a  sign  of  a 
return  to  the  conditions  of  slavery,  and  he  is 
alarmed, 


146  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

"If  in  a  city  of  light  such  as  is  Almaville  this 
spirit  obtains,  it  won't  be  long,  they  feel,  before 
the  Negro  laborers  of  the  South  will  be  firmly 
in  the  grasp  of  a  new  form  of  slavery.  They  are 
also  alarmed  at  the  clamor  of  leading  newspapers 
for  -a  vagrancy  law  which  will  be  invoked  in  times 
when  the  Negroes  refrain  from  labor  in  the  hope 
of  advancing  their  pay.  The  presence  in  our 
ranks  of  the  labor  element  representing  the  Ne- 
gro masses  will  give  striking  evidence  of  the  ef- 
fect things  are  having  upon  all  classes  of  Ne- 
groes, welding  them  together. 

"Now,  Ensal,  you  have  my  whole  story.  This 
is  to  be  the  most  sublime  affair  in  the  whole  his- 
tory of  our  race.  Honor  yourself,  my  friend,  by 
joining  our  ranks." 

Earl  now  ceased. 

"Earl,"  began  Ensal,  slowly,  earnestly,  "do  you 
know  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  and  particularly  that 
brand  found  in  the  South?  Provoke  the  passions 
of  that  race,  arouse  the  dormant  but  ever-present 
fear  of  secret  plottings  for  a  general  uprising, 
and  you  will  inaugurate  the  wholesale  slaughter 
of  innocent  men,  women  and  children.  Satan 
hearing  of  what  is  going  on,  will  resign  his 
post  as  King  of  Hell,  will  broaden  his  title  and 
move  up  to  sit  as  Emperor  of  the  South. 

"No,  no,  no,  Earl.  Dark,  dark  is  the  night, 
but  let  us  not  mistake  the  glow  of  the  'jack-o'- 
lantern'  leading  to  a  bog  for  the  gleam  of  the 
morning  star  ushering  in  the  day," 


THE  TWO  PATHWAYS.  147 

Ensal  ceased  speaking  and  the  two  men  looked 
at  each  other  in  silence. 

"Do  you  regard  yourself  as  having  finished?" 
asked  Earl  after  a  few  seconds  of  silence. 

"Sir,"  he  continued,  "if  in  this  hour  when  I  am 
strangled  with  the  ashes  of  Bud  and  Foresta  you 
feed  me  with  a  negation—  He  did  not  finish 

the  sentence. 

"I  understand  you,  Earl.  I  must  offset  your 
proposition  with  a  better  one.  Foreseeing  that 
you  would  demand  this  of  me,  I  have  prepared 
myself/'  said  Ensal. 

Going  to  his  desk  he  procured  a  rather  bulky 
document.  Ensal  turned  the  manuscript  over 
and  over.  In  it  he  had  cast  all  of  his  soul.  Upon 
it  he  was  relying  for  the  amelioration  of  condi- 
tions to  such  an  extent  that  his  race  might  be 
saved  from  being  goaded  on  to  an  unequal  and 
disastrous  conflict.  He  hoped  that  its  efficacy 
would  be  so  self-evident  that  Earl  might  stay  the 
hand  that  threatened  the  South  and  the  nation 
with  another  awful  convulsion.  No  wonder  that 
his  voice  was  charged  with  deep  emotion  as  he 
read  as  follows: 


"To  the  People  of  the  United  States  of  America: 

"The  Anglo-Saxon  race  is  a  race  of  the  colder 
regions  and  there  evolved  those  qualities,  phys- 
ical, mental  and  temperamental,  which  constitute 


148  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

its  greatness.  A  large  section  of  the  race  has 
left  the  habitat  and  environments  in  which  and 
because  of  which  it  grew  to  greatness,  and  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  United  States  finds  itself 
confronted  with  the  problem  of  maintaining  in 
warmer  climes  those  elements  of  a  greatness 
hitherto  found  only  in  the  colder  regions. 

"The  race  in  these  warmer  regions  took  firm 
hold  of  the  doctrine  of  a  foil,  a  something 
thrust  between  itself  and  the  sapping  influences 
of  weather,  sun  and  soil.  The  Negro  was  pressed 
into  service  as  that  foil.  He  was  to  stand  in  the 
open  and  bear  the  brunt  of  nature's  hammering, 
while  the  Anglo-Saxon,  under  the  shade  of  tree 
or  on  cool  veranda,  sought  to  keep  pace  with  his 
brother  of  the  more  invigorating  clime,  counting 
immunity  from  the  assaults  of  nature  and  supe- 
rior opportunities  for  reflection  as  factors  vital 
to  him  in  the  unequal  race  that  he  was  to  run. 

"Not  only  was  this  foil  deemed  necessary  to 
the  maintenance  of  the  intellectual  life  of  the 
South,  but  to  its  commercial  well  being  as  well; 
for  the  white  man  was  regarded  as  constitu- 
tionally unable  to  furnish  the  quality  of  phys- 
ical service  necessary  to  extract  from  the  earth 
sufficient  fruitage  to  have  the  South  hold  her  own 
commercially. 

"The  wealth  of  the  South,  because  of  a 
deep  seated  conviction  as  to  the  absolute 
need  of  a  foil  for  the  white  race  in  warm- 
er climes,  because  of  the  hardiness  of  the 
Negro's  frame,  his  docility,  his  habit  of 
cheerfulness  when  at  work,  his  largely  uncom- 
plaining nature,  his  conception  that  labor  condi- 
tions are  fixed,  his  individualism  leading  to  in- 
eptness  in  combining — these  qualities  the  wealth 
of  the  South  regards  as  ideal  for  the  services  of 


THE  TWO  PATHWAYS.  149 

capital,  and  Negro  labor  is  much  preferred  to 
that  of  chronically  discontented,  aspiring  and 
combining  whites. 

"The  capitalist  influence  would  have  the  Ne- 
gro treated  humanely,  would  give  him  industrial, 
moral  and  religious  training,  and  would  have  him 
enjoy  the  protection  of  the  law  that  he  might 
continue  in  the  South,  working  in  contentment 
and  with  efficiency  in  the  lower  forms  of  labor. 

"But  this  element  desires  that  the  Negro  play 
the  part  of  the  foil  and  accept  this  as  mainly  his 
mission  in  America.  It  has  scant  sympathy  with 
the  college  professor  and  the  political  agitator 
that  would  set  the  race  to  dreaming  very  largely 
of  higher  things.  The  element,  therefore,  that 
is  most  desirous  of  retaining  the  Negro  popula- 
tion and  seeks  to  make  the  race  satisfied  with 
its  present  habitat  is  for  the  very  reason  leading 
to  that  course,  thoroughly  opposed  to  making  a 
speciality  of  developing  all  there  is  in  the  Negro, 
so  that  the  development  that  this  element  stands 
for  is  assuredly  one  sided. 

"Opposed  to  the  element  that  is  half  friendly  to 
the  Negro  because  of  his  superior  qualities  as  a 
foil  and  commercial  asset,  are  the  white  indus- 
trial rivals  of  the  Negro,  whose  animosity  is 
whetted  by  their  conscious  inferiority  in  matters 
physical  to  this  son  of  the  tropics,  who  is  more 
nearly  at  home  under  southern  sky  than  are  the 
children  of  the  colder  regions. 

"The  industrial  rivals  of  the  Negro,  led  on  by 
those  who  would  exploit  race  prejudices  for  their 
profit  and  those  who  feel  that  grave  danger  lurks 
in  a  mixed  civilization,  keep  the  baser  passions  of 
the  people  so  inflamed  that  such  horrible  outrages 
take  a  place  that  the  future  often  seems  overshad- 
owed with  a  cloud  dark,  portentous  and  riftless. 


150  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

"The  two  elements  thus  far  mentioned,  the  half- 
friends  of  the  capitalist  class  and  the  rancorous 
industrial  rivals  of  the  Negro,  are  opposed  to  each 
other  on  the  question  of  the  Negro's  leaving  the 
South,  the  former  opposing  and  the  latter  favor- 
ing his  elimination,  but  they  are  one  in  insisting 
that  the  Negro  must  be  restricted  in  his  aspira- 
tions. The  question  has  another  complication 
and  a  third  element  is  to  be  reckoned  with. 

"There  is  a  vein  of  idealism  running  through 
our  country  that  would  hold  the  American  peo- 
ple to  the  thought  that  the  United  States  has  a 
world  wide  mission.  It  is  the  dream  of  this 
class  that  shackles,  whether  physical,  political  or 
spiritual,  shall  fall  from  every  man  the  world 
around. 

"This  class  says  to  the  capitalist  class  of  the 
South:  'Our  ideals  will  suffer  if  we  permit  you 
to  have  political  serfs,  however  wrell  fed  they  may 
be.'  To  the  class  that  would  oppress  the  Negro 
it  says,  'The  patient  suffering  and  material  serv- 
ice of  him  whom  you  buffet  entitles  him  in  his 
own  right  to  a  home  in  this  country,  and  here  of 
all  places  justice  shall  be  his  portion.'  This  class 
has  opened  Northern  institutions  to  them,  and 
training  has  produced  a  large  and  aggressive 
army  of  able  young  Negroes  enraptured  with  the 
expressed  ideals  of  the  republic. 

"When  it  is  sought  by  idealists  to  make  the  po- 
sition of  the  American  Negro  square  with  the 
constitution,  the  capitalist  class  of  the  South, 
which  fancies  that  it  sees  the  sudden  loss  of  the 
foil,  and  the  rivals  of  the  Negro  in  the  labor 
world  combine  to  oppose  the  programme  look- 
ing to  the  political  uplift  of  the  Negro.  As  the 


THE  TWO  PATHWAYS.  151 

Negro  in  the  groove  ('in  his  place')  has  the  self- 
interest  of  the  capitalist  class  on  his  side,  while, 
aspiring  to  be  as  others  are,  he  finds  his  erstwhile 
friends  and  chronic  enemies  forming  a  cordon  to 
prevent  his  rise,  it  has  been  suggested  that  polit- 
ical advancement  be  made  a  secondary  consid- 
eration. 

"In  view  of  the  powerful  forces  which  we  find 
arrayed  against  a  programme  looking  to  the  polit- 
ical advancement  of  the  Negro  we  can  under- 
stand the  desire  of  the  American  people  that  it 
be  made  clear  that  the  political  needs  of  the  Ne- 
gro are  vital  to  the  improvement  of  present  con- 
ditions. We  shall  therefore  proceed  to  show  how 
intimately  the  political  question  is  inwrought  in 
the  whole  situation. 

"After  the  last  word  has  been  said  in  favor  of 
the  capitalist  notion  of  race  elevation,  it  is  still 
found  to  contain  the  wonderfully  fecund  germ  of 
repression.  To  sustain  a  notion. from  generation 
to  generation  that  the  Negro  should  be  denied 
participation  in  the  political  life  of  his  nation  ne- 
cessitates an  atmosphere  charged  with  the  spirit 
of  repression,  a  voracious  guest,  whose  appetite 
calls  for  food  other  than  the  dainties  set  before 
him. 

"The  making  of  official  life  in  the  South  inde- 
pendent of  Negro  sentiment  was  evidently  in-- 
tended to  cause,  white  men  to  feel  free  to  act  ac- 
cording to  their  own  instincts,  undeterred  by  cal- 
culations as  to  the  possible  effects  of  their  course 
on  the  attitude  of  the  Negro  toward  them. 

"With  repression  the  order  of  the  day,  and  the 
process  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  operating 
along  this  plane,  that  man  who  best  exemplifies 
the  repressive  faculty  will  survive  in  the  political 
warfare  and  thus  will  be  brought  to  the  front  the 


152  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

element  out  of  touch  with  the  broadening  influ- 
ences of  the  age,  whose  vision  is  yet  bounded  by 
the  narrow  horizon  of  race. 

"The  administration  of  the  government,  then, 
inevitably  falls  into  the  hands  of  the  less  refined 
and  a  contemned  race  of  an  alien  blood  is  handed 
over  to  them  to  be  governed  absolutely.  As  might 
be  expected  under  a  system  that  picks  its  rougher 
spirits  for  rulership,  the  governing  force  is  often 
worse  in  its  attitude  toward  Negroes  than  are 
the  great  body  of  whites.  Instead  therefore  of 
the  government  being  the  guide,  piloting  the 
people  to  broader  conceptions,  the  governing 
power  often  sets  in  motion  brutalizing  tendencies 
that  eventually  sweep  down  and  affect  the  people. 

"Local  sentiment  has  been  invoked  to  hold  in 
check  the  wrathful  outpourings  of  United  States 
senators,  legislatures  have  held  in  check  rampant 
governors,  and  cities  have  cried  out  against  the 
acts  of  legislatures  imposing  repressive  meas- 
ures not  warranted  by  local  conditions,  things 
that  signify  that  repression  sends  to  the  front 
men  whose  tendency  is  to  lower  rather  than  ad- 
vance civilization. 

"It  is  generally  conceded  that  the  drift  of  the 
Negro  population  of  the  South  toward  the  cities 
is  due  to  the  lack  of  police  protection  in  the  rural 
districts.  In  the  city  policeman,  then,  we  have 
an  opportunity  to  study  the  output  of  the  system 
of  repression  at  its  highest  level.  Policemen  are 
often  the  most  unbearable  of  tyrants,  arresting 
Negroes  upon  the  most  flimsy  charges,  and  refus- 
ing to  tolerate  a  word  of  explanation.  It  is  ac- 
tually a  capital  offense  for  a  Negro  to  run  from 
a  policeman,  however  trivial  the  charge  upon 
which  he  has  been  arrested. 


THE  TWO  PATHWAYS.  153 

"In  Almaville,  which  represents  the  South  at 
its  highest  point  of  civilization,  policemen  have 
wantonly  shot  to  death  Negro  after  Negro  for 
seeking  to  elude  arrest. 

"The  following  article  which  we  reproduce 
from  one  of  America's  most  reputable  journals, 
will  speak  for  itself. 

"  'How  lightly  the  wanton  killing  of  a  Negro 
has  come  to  be  regarded  in  some  Southern  com- 
munities is  brought  out  by  an  incident  of  the 
week  at  Memphis,  which  hardly  needs  comment. 
An  inoffensive  Negro  was  hawking  chickens 

about  the  street,  when — ,  who  was  not  in 

uniform  at  the  time,  jumped  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  chickens  had  been  stolen,  and  arrested 
the  man.  While  he  went  to  put  on  his  uniform 
he  left  his  prisoner  in  custody  of  a  nearby  grocer, 
rightly  named  -  — ,  to  whom  he  handed  his 

pistol,  with  the  offhand  injunction,  'If  he  tries  to 
get  away  from  you,  kill  him.'  -'s  assertion 

that  the  Negro  made  a  break  for  liberty  is  dis- 
puted by  the  testimony  of  bystanders,  but  at  all 
events  he  fired  on  the  Negro,  wounding  him  so 
severely  that  he  died  the  next  morning.  'Well, 
you  got  him,  didn't  you?'  said  -  -  on  his  re- 
turn. 'If  I  didn't,  I  almost,'  answered 
with  a  smile.  The  policeman's  only  statement 
in  palliation  of  the  unprovoked  killing  was  that 
the  deputy  to  whom  he  delegated  his  authority 
had  'taken  his  instructions  literally.'  The  most 
shocking  feature  of  the  affair  is  that  -  -  has 
not  been  arrested,  and  the  policeman  is  apparent- 
ly to  continue  on  his  beat.  The  'Commercial-Ap- 
peal' may  well  exclaim  in  bitterness,  'Life  in  this 
community  is  cheap ;  the  life  of  a  Negro  is  so  val- 
ueless that  it  is  freely  taken  without  fear  of  fu- 
ture punishment  in  this  world.' 


154  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

'The  question  may  be  asked  as  to  whether 
there  are  provisions  for  redress  against  police 
outrages.  There  are  courts  and  commissions  that 
may  be  appealed  to,  but  two  considerations  ren- 
der these  institutions  of  slight  value  to  Negroes. 
In  the  first  place  the  sentiment  obtains  that 
the  evidence  of  a  Negro  is  not  to  count  as  much 
as  that  of  a  white  man.  With  this  much  the  start 
the  policeman  has  still  another  advantage.  The 
policy  of  repression  has  fostered  the  idea  that  it 
is  all  right  for  a  white  man  to  commit  perjury 
in  cases  where  there  is  a  contest  between  a  white 
man  and  a  Negro.  Witness  the  manner  in  which 
election  commissioners  have  often  been  chose» 
because  of  their  known  willingness  to  swear 
falsely  as  to  the  contents  of  ballot  boxes. 

"So,  with  little  sentiment  against  perjury  when 
a  Negro  is  involved  and  the  extra  weight  at- 
tached to  the  word  of  a  white  man  as  against  that 
of  a  Negro,  the  wrongs  of  the  Negro  more  often 
than  otherwise  go  absolutely  unavenged. 

"Public  utilities  are  likewise  administered 
by  white  men  who  often  maltreat  Negroes. 
In  Almaville  a  street  car  conductor  was  sen- 
tenced to  two  years  in  the  penitentiary  for  the 
killing  of  an  inoffensive  Negro  who  was  asking 
him  for  correct  change  and  at  whom,  according 
to  his  own  sworn  statement,  he  shot  'to  see  him 
run.' 

"In  this  same  city  a  Negro  woman  was  kicked 
off  of  a  street  car  by  the  conductor  for  pulling 
through  mistake  the  cord  that  registered  fares  in- 
stead of  the  one  that  signalled  for  the  motorman 
to  stop. 

"For  this  same  offense  a  Negro  in  Memphis 
was  shot  in  the  back  four  times  and  killed  by  the 
conductor,  who  was  allowed  to  make  his  escape. 


THE  TWO  PATHWAYS.  155 

"Many  good  white  people  of  the  South  will  ask 
'If  this  state  of  terror  exists  among  our  Negro 
population,  how  does  it.  happen  that  it  has  not  im- 
pressed itself  more  forcibly  upon  the  public 
mind?'  Largely  because  the  affected  people  are 
voiceless  and  because  they  grow  weary  of  invok- 
ing the  aid  of  courts  and  commissions  that  some- 
how find  their  way  clear  to  sustain  the  side  hold- 
ing membership  in  the  race  to  which  they  belong. 
The  Negroes,  therefore,  meet  in  groups  and 
exchange  accounts  of  outrages  and  bitterly  sneer 
when  they  read  in  the  white  newspapers  of  the 
South  accounts  of  the  ideal  relations  of  the  two 
races. 

"The  claim  of  some  of  the  white  people  of  the 
South  that  the  Negro  needs  no  power  in  his  own 
hands  to  insure  a  proper  regard  for  his  interests 
ought  not  to  be  tolerated  for  a  moment  in  view  of 
all  that  has  happened  since  the  whites  have  had 
exclusive  charge  of  the  southern  governments. 

"It  has  long  been  a  contention  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  that  the  people  should  retain  power 
to  protect  themselves  against  possible  indiffer- 
ence, incompetence  or  outright  meanness  on  the 
part  of  public  officials,  and  if  Anglo-Saxons  re- 
fuse to  commit  their  welfare  unreservedly  into 
the  hands  of  fellow  Anglo-Saxons,  it  seems  clear 
that  it  is  placing  too  great  a  strain  upon  human 
nature  to  expect  ideal  results  when  an  alien  race 
is  involved.  Not  only  does  repression  bear  such 
fruit  as  we  have  indicated,  but  it  also  bears 
heavily  upon  the  repressed  in  other  directions. 

"All  history  shows  that  a  race  stands  in  need 
of  great  men,  in  need  of  the  contributions  of  their 
superior  powers,  and  the  inspiration  that  their 
names  will  carry  from  generation  to  generation. 


156  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

"Grappling  with  the  affairs  of  state  affords 
unique  opportunities  for  growth,  while  the  honor 
of  having  served  the  state  operates  as  a  magnify- 
ing glass  enlarging  the  inspirational  force  of  in- 
dividuals so  honored.  Thus  a  race  having  the 
privilege  of  committing  great  trusts  to  its  mem- 
bers draws  as  a  dividend  men  of  enlarged  powers 
and  names  which  will  inspire.  These  influences 
reapplied  to  the  needs  of  the  state  serve  mightily 
to  pull  the  people  forward. 

"Again,  to  fix  a  limit  to  the  development  of  a 
race  is  to  run  counter  to  the  forces  of  evolution 
which  are  indisposed  to  recognize  barriers  of  any 
kind.  The  human  mind  revolts  at  a  'ne  plus  ul- 
tra.' The  Great  Unknown  has  hid  himself  in  the 
heart  of  things,  and  yet  the  fainting  soul  of  man 
lingers  forever  at  the  barred  door  of  His  palace 
in  a  sort  of  rebellious  worship,  determined  to 
learn  of  Deity  even  the  forbidden  things. 

"The  human  mind  is  yet  human  when  encased 
in  a  Negro  body  and  if  this  mind  chafes  at  limita- 
tions seemingly  imposed  by  eternal  forces,  it  will 
not  submit  to  limitations  arranged  by  finite  crea- 
tures. 

"We  have  no  doubt  arrived  at  the  point 
in  this  discussion  where  it  is  in  order  to 
suggest  a  remedy  for  these  ills.  The  of- 
ferings of  the  humane  class  of  Southern 
white  people  who  would  like  to  settle  the 
whole  question  upon  the  basis  of  the  development 
of  the  Negro  race  along  restricted  lines,  must, 
because  of  the  danger  that  lurks  in  the  principle 
of  repression,  be  rejected  as  totally  inadequate. 
Above  all  things,  the  government  must  go  out 
of  the  business  of  repression,  must  cease  tagging 
the  Negro  as  an  outcast  among  hi»  fellows.  The 
men  who  administer  affairs  must  be  made  ame- 


THE  TWO  PATHWAYS.  157 

nable  to  the  sentiment  of  the  whole  body  politic 
and  not  simply  that  portion  represented  by  the 
white  citizenship. 

"One  says:  'The  nation  felt  all  this  and 
granted  to  the  Negroes  political  power.'  Explain 
to  us  those  largely  writ  words  'Reconstruction 
Governments.' 

"Right  gladly  do  we  respond  to  the  task  as- 
signed. 

"One  whom  the  nation  knows  as  perhaps  the 
foremost  living  Southerner,  who  has  acquired  the 
art  of  speaking  upon  this  whole  matter  in  a  way 
that  seems  to  beget  at  least  a  respectful  hearing 
everywhere,  says:  'Few  reasonable  men  now 
charge  the  'Negroes  at  large  with  more  than  ig- 
norance and  an  invincible  faculty  for  being 
worked  on/ 

"To  this  we  make  reply,  the  overturning  of 
slavery  in  the  South  was  revolutionary  and  not 
evolutionary.  There  was  no  spiritual  cataclysm 
to  correspond  with  the  political  one.  He  who  on 
one  day  ruled  over  the  Negro  was  found  spirit- 
ually unprepared  to  rule  with  him  on  the  succeed- 
ing day. 

When,  therefore,  the  Negroes  were  approached 
by  two  sets  of  men,  the  one  set,  composed  of  the 
former  ruling  class  of  the  South,  equipped  morally 
and  intellectually  for  good  government,  but  wrong 
at  heart  upon  the  great  question  of  human  rights, 
the  other  composed  largely  of  carpet  baggers,  scal- 
awags and  bad  administrators,  but  true  to  the 
principle  of  equality  before  the  law,  it  ought  not 
to  be  surprising  that  a  race  fresh  from  the  galling 
yoke  of  slavery  should  choose  the  set  that  would 
look  after  their  liberties. 

"This,  we  feel,  fully  explains  the  ills  of  recon- 
struction, and  those  that  lament  that  they  were 


158  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

thrust  aside  from  leadership,  should  further  la- 
ment that  they  were  evidently  not  far  enough 
away  from  the  ruling  of  a  race  by  a  race  to  have 
charge  of  the  momentous  experiment  of  the  joint 
rulership  of  races.  The  real  blame  for  the  un- 
fortunate state  of  affairs  falls,  perhaps,  upon 
those  crushers  of  free  speech  in  the  South 
who,  prior  to  the  Civil  War,  allowed  not  the 
preaching  of  the  doctrine  of  human  rights  which 
wTould  have  furnished  men  of  the  right  temper 
and  proper  vision  to  take  charge  of  the  new  or- 
der of  things. 

"But  we  gained  much  from  those  times  that 
must  not  be  lost  sight  of.  We  gained  our  racial 
awakening,  the  upward  impulse,  This  was  a 
supreme  need  of  our  country.  For,  what  pen  can 
set  forth  what  would  have  been  the  outcome  of  a 
festering  carcass  of  a  dead  race  within  our 
borders. 

"The  ballot  put  into  the  hands  of  the  gloom 
enshrouded  Negro  sent  a  thrill  of  hope  into  his 
very  bone  and  marrow,  and  the  sense  of  respon- 
sibility and  the  beckoning  of  the  high  destiny  of 
citizenship  in  a  great  republic  begot  such  a 
fever  of  progress  in  the  race  that  the  problem 
is  now  that  of  dealing  with  the  aspirations  of  the 
race  rather  than  the  more  awful  problem  of  try- 
ing to  avoid  the  contaminating  odor  of  a  race 
dead  to  higher  appeals,  sinking  and  pulling  the 
nation  with  it. 

"And  finally  upon  the  question  of  reconstruction 
we  find  that  perpetual  disbarment  is  not  visited 
upon  the  people  of  the  mightiest  city  of  the  new 
world,  because  it  has  from  time  to  time  made  mis- 
takes and  put  bad  men  to  the  fore. 

"Moreover,  be  it  remembered  that  the  Negro 
of  to-day  is  not  restricted  to  the  choice  of  yester- 


THE  TWO  PATHWAYS.  159 

day.  Good  men  and  true  abound  in  both  races 
in  the  South,  who  are  now  fully  equipped  to  oper- 
ate a  truly  democratic  government. 

"People  of  America :  We  were  wrested  by  you 
from  the  savage  wilds  and  thrown  into  your 
mould.  Our  bodies  have  been  fitted  to  your 
climes,  our  spirits  have  been  put  in  tune  with 
yours.  We  love  your  institutions,  and  if  your 
flag  could  speak,  it  would  tell  you  that  it  has  no 
fear  of  the  dust  when  entrusted  to  our  sable 
hands. 

"The  great  burdens  of  your  future  need  the 
cheer  that  we  can  bring,  and  your  labors  in  the 
tropics  now  dimly  foreshadowed,  may  put  a  pre- 
mium on  what  we  can  yield.  By  the  token  of  our 
patriotism  and  in  sight  of  our  willingness  to 
yield  all  .the  blood  or  brawn  or  brain  neces- 
sary for  the  advancement  of  our  common  coun- 
try, we  simply  beg  that  you  cast  not  away  your 
ideals,  that  you  do  not  unsettle  the  foundations  of 
your  democracy  when  you  come  to  deal  with  us. 

"Grant  unto  us  equality  of  citizenship.  Fix 
your  standard  for  a  man!  If  you  choose,  plant 
the  foot  of  the  ladder  in  a  fiery  test  and  engirdle 
each  round  with  a  forest  of  thorns.  Do  this  and 
more;  if  your  civilization  and  the  highest  needs 
of  the  unborn  world  require  it.  But  when, 
through  the  fire  and  up  the  path  of  thorns,  we 
climb  where  others  climb,  hurl  us  not  back  be- 
cause of  a  color  given  us  from  above.  Let  one 
test  be  unto  all  men.  Let  the  strong  arm  of  the 
nation  for  its  own  good  and  for  the  ultimate  good 
of  humanity  insist  upon  the  observance  of  this 
principle  wherever  Old  Glory  floats.  Let  this  be 
the  guiding  star  of  your  policy  toward  us.  This 
grave  question  settled,  the  vast  army  of  Negro 
leaders  absorbed  in  the  momentous  work  of 


160  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

adjusting  this  external  problem,  will  be  free  to 
turn  undivided  attention  to  the  curing  of  those 
ills  that  are  gnawing  at  the  vitals  of  the  race. 

"Those  most  interested  in  the  internal  de- 
velopment of  the  race  can  render  the  cause  so 
dear  to  their  hearts  no  greater  service  than  by 
facilitating  the  adjustment  of  the  outer  rela- 
tion. 

"The  campaign,  then,  is  one  that  concerns  not 
only  the  political  forces  of  the  nation,  but  the 
moral  forces  as  well,  since  the  pressing  of  this 
great  wrong  upon  the  hearts  of  an  inoffensive, 
patient  and  aspiring  people  tends  to  their  moral 
undoing,  not  only  by  the  evil  passions  engendered, 
but  also,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  by  the  with- 
drawing of  so  much  of  the  attention  of  the  race 
from  internal  development  to  the  absorbing,  ex- 
acting and,  in  some  respects,  narrowing  task  of 
battling  against  an  alien  aggression. 

"From  the  depths  of  our  dark  night  we  cry 
unto  you  to  save  us  from  the  oppression  inher- 
ent in  the  present  situation  and  clear  the  way 
for  our  higher  aspirations. 

"In  behalf  of  the  Negroes  of  the  United  States 
of  America, 

"ENSAL  ELLWOOD." 

Ensal  finished  the  document,  folded  it  carefully 
and  laid  it  upon  his  desk. 

"Now  Earl,"  he  said,  "let  us  print  millions 
of  this  address  and  see  to  it  that  a  copy  thereof 
gets  into  every  American  home.  Furthermore, 
let  us  see  to  it  that  it  is  translated  into  the  various 
languages  of  the  civilized  world  that  the  whole 
thought  of  the  human  race  may  be  influenced  in 


THE  TWO  PATHWAYS.  161 

our  direction.  Earl,  our  cause  is  just  and  we 
must  learn  to  plead  it  acceptably.  That  is  our 
problem.  Eschew  your  plan  and  join  hands  with 
me." 

Earl  was  silent  for  a  few  moments  and  then 
said: 

'This  is  all  very  good,  Ensal,  but  it  needs  a  sup- 
plement. Charles  Sumner's  oratory  and  Mrs. 
Stowe's  affecting  portraiture  of  poor  old  Uncle 
Tom  were  not  sufficient  of  themselves  to  move  the 
nation.  There  had  to  be  a  John  Brown  and  a 
Harper's  Ferry.  Preserve  that  paper  and  send 
it  forth.  The  blood  of  Earl  Bluefield  and  his 
followers  shed  upon  the  hill  crowning  Almaville 
will  serve  as  an  exclamation  point  to  what  you 
have  said  in  that  paper,"  was  Earl's  comment. 

Earl  now  arose  to  go.  Ensal  stood  up  facing 
him. 

"Ensal,  clasp  my  hand  in  farewell,"  said  Earl 
feelingly. 

"Earl,  knowing  the  mission  upon  which  you  go 
to-night,  criminal  in  its  utter  folly,  I  would  not 
for  my  life  put  my  hand  in  yours,"  responded 
Ensal. 

A  flush  of  anger  overspread  Earl's  face,  his 
lip  quivered  and  he  was  upon  the  eve  of  uttering 
some  biting  remark.  He  suppressed  his  anger, 
however,  and  departed,  determined  upon  making 
his  offering  of  blood.  True  American  that  he  was, 
Ensal  was  determined  that  the  offering  should 
be  the  output  of  brains,  rather  than  of  veins. 

IT 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


They  Grapple. 

LMAVILLE  is  asleep,  watched  by  the 
quiet  moon,  now  about  to  disappear, 
and  the  far  off  silent  stars. 

Upon  the  bridge  from  which  hun- 
dreds had  seen  little  Henry  Crump  driven  to  his 
death;  where  the  majesty  of  the  law  had  been 
trampled  under  foot  in  the  murder  and  mutilation 
of  Dave  Harper — upon  this  bridge  now  stood  En- 
sal  awaiting  the  coming  of  Earl  who  had  to  pass 
that  v/ay  to  reach  the  place  of  rendezvous  agreed 
upon  by  himself  and  followers. 

At  about  one  o'clock  Ensal,  standing  in  the 
shadow  of  the  framewrork  of  the  bridge,  saw  Earl 
walking  rapidly  in  his  direction.  As  the  latter 
was  about  to  pass,  Ensal  laid  a  hand  firmly 
upon  his  shoulder. 

Earl  looked  around  quickly  to  learn  the  mean- 
ing of  the  firm  grasp  and  recognized  him.  There 
was  a  look  of  determination  in  Ensal's  eye  that 
caused  Earl  to  feel  that  important  developments 
were  sure  to  follow. 

"Earl,  my  friend,  you   shall   not   commit   tMs 
blunder,"  said  Ensal. 
(162) 


THEY  GRAPPLE.  163 

"Blood  must  be  shed  at  some  time  and  it  might 
as  well  be  shed  now  as  at  any  other  time,"  said 
Earl,  staring  Ensal  in  the  face  as  though  he 
might  have  reference  to  his  (Ensal's)  blood. 

Ensal's  grasp  tightened,  and  he  said,  "I  tell  you 
frankly,  Earl,  you  will  have  to  disable  me  before 
you  get  to  that  crowd  to-night." 

"Turn  me  loose,"  said  Earl,  in  a  quiet,  de- 
termined, yet  kindly  tone.  "Ensal,  you  and  I 
have  been  friends  all  of  our  lives.  We  sat  in 
school  together  and  hunted  birds'  nests  in  the 
woods  side  by  side.  I  have  sought  your  counsel 
from  time  to  time  and  you  have  served  as  a  check 
to  me  in  many  instances.  But  my  mind  is  fully 
made  up  now,  and  it  will  not  pay  for  even  such 
a  friend  as  you  are  to  stand  in  my  way.  I  warn 
you,  beware!" 

Ensal  decided  that  it  was  time  to  act.  He 
quickly  pinioned  Earl  and  backed  him  up  against 
the  iron  railing.  He  had  just  heard  the  city  clock 
strike  one  and  felt  that  he  could  hold  Earl  in 
his  grasp  for  one  hour,  at  which  time  a  policeman 
would  come  along,  whereupon  he  could  deliver 
Earl  over  to  the  officer.  With  Earl  out  of  the 
way  he  felt  that  he  could  get  around  and  dissipate 
the  forces  that  he  had  organized. 

Earl  remembered  that  in  Ensal's  earlier  days, 
he  had  suffered  a  fracture  of  his  left  arm,  and  in 
his  struggling  Earl  now  weighed  heavily  on  that 
arm  which  began  to  weaken.  Ensal  soon  saw 
that  he  was  not  going  to  be  able  to  pinion  Earl  for 


164  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

the  hour  to  intervene  before  the  coming  of  the 
officer.  So  deciding,  he  concluded  to  stake  all 
on  a  fall.  He  felt  that  if  he  could  get  Earl  down 
and  get  the  famous  neck  hold,  which  they  had 
practiced  so  much  in  their  youth,  he  cou)d  suc- 
ceed in  holding  him  in  that  way. 

To  and  fro  the  two  men  swayed,  each  man 
feeling  that  the  welfare  of  millions  depended 
upon  the  outcome  of  this  duel  of  the  mue-cles. 

At  last  Ensal  gained  an  advantage  and  Earl 
was  thrown.  Earl  pretended  to  be  making  vio- 
lent efforts  to  hurl  Ensal  off  of  himself,  but  this 
was  merely  a  feint.  By  skillful  maneuvering  un- 
known to  Ensal  he  got  hold  of  his  pistol  and 
sought  to  so  aim  it  that  he  could  shoot  Ensal 
through  the  heart.  Concluding  that  he  now  had 
the  pistol  at  the  right  angle,  he  pulled  the  trigger. 
The  trembling  condition  of  his  hand  could  not 
insure  a  steady  aim  and  the  pistol  falling  down 
sent  the  bullet  crashing  into  his  own  side.  Ensal 
leaped  up,  but  Earl  lay  motionless  upon  the 
bridge. 

It  was  now  only  a  few  moments  before  the  po- 
liceman was  due  at  that  point  and  Ensal  was  in 
a  quandary  as  to  what  to  do.  He  was  not  long  in 
doubt,  however.  Lifting  the  wounded  man,  he 
half  dragged  and  half  carried  him  to  one  'end  of 
the  bridge  where  there  were  steps  leading  down 
to  the  river.  He  disappeared  down  the  steps  and 
hid  under  the  bridge  just  in  time  to  escape  the 
eyes  of  the  officer. 


"Two  and  fro  the  two  men  swayed,  each  man  feeling  that 
the  welfare  of  millions  depended  upon  the  outcome  of  this 
duel  of  the  muscles." 

(164-165.) 


THEY  GRAPPLE.  165 

Ensal  did  what  he  could  to  staunch  the  flow  of 
blood.  He  then  tried  to  think.  He  did  not  care 
to  expose  Earl  to  the  fury  of  a  white  mob  by 
revealing  the  conspiracy.  He  preferred  to  heal 
the  racial  sore  himself  without  calling  a  doctor, 
whose  remedy  might  be  worse  than  the  disease. 
But  if  he  kept  Earl's  illness  secret  and  Earl  died, 
he  was  himself  liable  to  be  arrested  on  the  charge 
of  murder.  He  concluded,  however,  to  take  the 
risk  of  handling  the  matter  himself.  He  would 
have  Earl  nursed  back  to  health  and  then  demand 
that  he  leave  Almaville  on  the  ground  that  he 
was  an  unsafe  leader  for  the  people  under  ex- 
isting conditions.  He  now  felt  the  need  of  a  con- 
federate and  his  mind  ran  to  Tiara,  who  was  yet 
living  in  practical  seclusion. 

"By  the  way,"  said  he  to  himself,  "she  lives 
near  the  river." 

Taking  possession  of  a  boat  which  he  found 
moored  near  by,  Ensal  put  Earl  into  it  and  rowed 
until  he  was  opposite  Tiara's  house.  After  con- 
siderable effort  he  succeeded  in  arousing  the  in- 
mates. 

Tiara  attired  herself  and  came  out  upon  the 
back  porch  and  listened  to  EnsaPs  story.  She 
dared  not  look  him  in  the  face  too  often.  Her 
eyes  told  too  plainly  of  her  suppressed  love. 

As  humble  as  was  Ensal's  opinion  of  himself 
he  was  compelled  to  admit  that  the  net  result  of 
this  short  interview  was  a  decided  conviction  that 
Tiara  was  not  altogether  indifferent  to  him,  that 


166  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

he  held  no  mean  place  in  her  regard.  But  he  was 
the  more  mystified  as  to  why  she  had  so  persist- 
ently refused  to  allow  him  to  call. 

But  all  this  is  aside.  Tiara  accepted  charge 
of  Earl  and  in  her  faithful  hands  we  leave  him 
for  the  present. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


Out  of  Joint  With  Plis  Times. 

EDGE,  I'd  lack  to  mek'  er  few  dimes. 
Ken  1  peddle  limonade  nigh  de  co't 
'ouse  do',  sah,  yer  honah?" 

The  judge  looked  with  a  kindly  eye 
upon  the  rather  small,  aged  Negro,  who  made  the 
above  request.  The  look  of  the  man  was  so  ap- 
pealing and  his  voice  so  sad  of  tone  that  the  judge 
was  moved  to  grant  the  request. 

"Thank  'ee,  jedge,  thank  'ee,"  said  the  Negro, 
bowing  low,  his  face  and  whole  frame  testifying 
to  his  immense  joy  at  being  allowed  to  sell  lemon- 
ade at  the  court  house  door. 

"His  family  must  be  starving,"  thought  the 
judge,  as  he  resumed  his  walk  to  the  court  house, 
haunted  by  the  pleading  look  in  the  Negro's  eye. 
"He  asked  for  that  insignificant  favor  with  as 
much  soul  as  a  man  could  put  in  a  plea  for  his 
life,"  mused  the  judge,  as  he  continued  to  think 
of  that  haunting  look. 

"That  Negro  would  hardly  tell  me,  but  I  would 
like  to  know  what  dark  cloud  it  is  that  so  patently 
casts  its  shadow  over  him,"  thought  the  judge, 
turning  to  cast  a  look  in  the  Negro's  direction. 

(167) 


168  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

The  Negro  saw  him  turn  and  greeted  him  with 
another  profound  bow  and  humble  laying  off  of 
his  hands. 

The  judge  entered  the  court  room,  which  was 
now  crowded  with  people  from  far  and  near.  That 
day  was  to  be  a  great  day  with  them.  The 
lynchers  of  Bud  and  Foresta  were  to  be  tried, 
but  that  was  not  what  excited  their  interest. 

The  Congressman  from  the  district  in  which 
Maulville  was  located  had  just  died,  and  his  suc- 
cessor was  soon  to  be  chosen.  There  was  but  lit- 
tle free  discussion  of  political  matters  in  that 
district,  the  white  population  generally  rendering 
unswerving  allegiance  to  the  Democratic  party, 
while  the  Negroes  were  equally  as  ardent  in  the 
support  of  the  Republican  party,  each  race  claim" 
ing  that  so  far  as  it  was  concerned  the  exigencies 
of  the  situation  permitted  no  other  course.  In 
the  absence  of  a  political  arena  in  which  young 
statesmen  might  display  their  prowess,  the  court 
house  became  the  nursery  of  statesmen  in  the 
South. 

Thither  then  the  people  were  flocking  to-day, 
ostensibly  to  witness  the  trial  of  the  slayers  of 
Bud  and  Foresta,  but  in  reality  to  pass  final  judg- 
ment upon  the  claims  of  the  young  prosecuting 
attorney  who  had  announced  himself  a  candidate 
to  succeed  the  deceased  Congressman.  The  abil- 
ity of  the  young  man  was  unquestioned  and  his 
exposition  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  the 
Democratic  party  was  all  that  could  be  desired, 


OUT  OF  JOINT  WITH   HIS  TIMES.  169 

they  felt,  but  they  wanted  to  hear  him  on  the  one 
question  that  was  the  final  test  of  his  acceptabili- 
ty, his  attitude  on  the  race  question. 

The  court  assembled  and  the  crowds  poured  in. 
The  prosecuting  attorney,  H.  Clay  Maul,  son  of 
Gen.  Maul,  after  whom  the  town  was  named,  ar- 
rived early  and  took  his  seat,  his  earnest  face 
wearing  the  look  of  a  determined  man  sure  of 
his  course.  Well  did  he  know  how  much  was  in- 
volved for  himself  personally  in  what  was  to 
transpire  that  day,  but  he  had  vowed  on  the  pre- 
vious night,  which  he  had  spent  at  his  mother's 
grave,  that  he  would  do  his  duty  regardless  of  its 
effect  upon  his  own  future. 

The  first  case  to  be  called  was  that  of  the  man 
designated  by  the  mob  to  apply  the  torch.  The 
chief  concern  of  the  defense  was  in  the  matter  of 
securing  a  jury.  They  expected  the  judge  to  do 
his  duty,  and  the  prosecuting  attorney  to  put 
forth  his  best  efforts  to  convict.  But  their  re- 
liance was  in  a  jury  in  whom  the  race  instinct 
would  triumph  over  every  other  consideration 
and  cause  it  to  bring  in  a  verdict  of  not  guilty. 

It  was  at  last  young  Maul's  time  to  speak  and 
he  arose,  slightly  nervous.  He  hesitated  an  in- 
stant before  beginning.  All  the  hopes  of  his  de- 
ceased father  concerning  him,  all  the  dreams  of 
his  boyhood,  all  the  blandishments  of  fame  and 
power  came  surging  to  his  mind  and  his  Ego  said, 
" Spare  thyself.  Thy  sacrifice  will  be  in  vain." 


170  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

Overcome  by  conflicting  emotions  that  gathered 
in  his  bosom  at  this  moment,  he  waved  his  hand 
to  the  audience  as  if  to  say,  "Wait,"  and  sat 
down.  His  eyes  were  directed  to  the  floor  and  his 
hand  still  outstretched  to  the  audience,  giving  the 
people  to  understand  that  he  was  yet  to  be  heard 
from. 

Every  eye  in  the  room  was  now  upon  him,  and 
all  were  conscious  that  a  supreme  struggle  was 
going  on  in  his  bosom.  At  last  he  stood  up,  a 
smile  of  triumph  upon  his  face.  And  thus  it  was 
that  a  son  of  the  New  South  came  into  his  spirit- 
ual inheritance. 

The  audience  was  more  eager  now  than  ever 
to  hear  every  word  of  the  forthcoming  speech, 
and  as  it  forever  fixed  the  status  of  the  young 
man  with  his  fellows,  we  give  enough  of  it  to  our 
readers  to  warrant  them  in  passing  judgment  on 
the  judgment  of  the  people  of  Maulviile,  Miss. 
Said  he: 

"Upon  an  occasion  such  as  this,  in  order  that 
we  may  the  better  get  our  bearings,  it  might  per- 
tinently be  asked  as  to  why,  in  the  evolution  of 
things,  you,  honorable  Judge,  you,  esteemed  gen- 
tlemen of  the  jury,  and  myself,  your  humble  ser- 
vant, are  here  to-day  addressing  our  attention  to 
a  crime  which  was  in  no  wise  directed  against  us 
personally. 

"We  are  here  to  take  care  of  the  interests  of 
society,  to  guard  it  against  the  influence  of  a  sav- 
age deed  whose  foul  breath  blown  upon  our  civili- 
zation threatens  it  with  utter  decay.  Availing 
myself  of  the  latitude  accorded  one  in  your  court, 


OUT  OF  JOINT  WITH  HIS  TIMES.  171 

honored  Judge,  I  shall  seek  to  point  out  all  the 
involvements  in  the  case  which  we  have  before 
us. 

"God  has  given  unto  us,  or,  to  be  more  exact, 
has  permitted  us  to  wrest  from  the  Indian  and 
from  creeping  snake  and  prowling  beast,  a  goodly 
land.  Here  we  raise  a  product  that  supplies  a 
need  of  the  world  that  cannot  be  so  acceptably 
filled  up  to  the  present  time  by  any  other  quarter 
of  the  globe. 

"The  world  at  large,  therefore,  has  a  vital  ma- 
terial interest  in  the  manner  in  which  we  conduct 
ourselves  on  this  spot.  We  have  in  our  midst 
Negroes  who  have  a  superior  adaptation  to  the 
labor  of  the  fields,  and  it  is  to  our  interest  and 
to  the  interests  of  mankind  generally,  that  they 
be  treated  properly,  as  in  their  humble  way  they 
do  this  their  share  of  the  world's  work. 

"Crown  Murder  king  here  to-day,  if  you  will, 
and  his  bloody  sceptre  waved  over  our  fields  will 
drive  the  Negroes  therefrom,  keep  us  poor,  and 
sadly  disturb  economic  conditions  in  the  most  re- 
mote corners  of  the  earth.  The  material  inter- 
ests of  civilization  at  large,  therefore,  appeal  to 
you  for  the  administration  of  justice  in  our  part 
of  the  world. 

"But  civilization  has  even  higher  interests  in- 
volved. We  must  bear  in  mind  that  these  are  no 
longer  days  of  isolation,  that  the  deeds  of  Maul- 
ville  have  been  canvassed  throughout  the  earth. 
Man  has  been  battling  upward  through  the  ages, 
and  his  savage  instincts  have  sought  to  mount 
the  ladder  with  him  as  he  climbed.  It  has  been 
one  of  the  hardest  of  man's  battles  to  leave  be- 
hind him  these  depraved  parts  of  his  nature,  and 
evidence  that  you  carry  your  savagery  with  you 
will  make  the  battle  harder  for  the  whole  of  the 


172  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

human  family.  And  so  the  moral  health  oi  the 
world  demands  that  every  community  have  a 
pest  house  where  the  isolation  and  treatment  of 
the  morally  diseased  may  forestall  an  epidemic. 

"Coming  nearer  home,  I  would  call  your  at- 
tention to  our  sister  states  to  the  north  of  us. 
These  states  are  bound  up  with  us  in  a  political 
system.  Destiny  has  made  us  one  people,  and 
by  the  outside  world  we  must  be  reckoned  with 
as  a  unit.  Under  these  circumstances,  the 
thought  must  unavoidably  develop  that  that  for 
which  all  are  to  be  held  responsible  must,  when 
the  need  arises,  be  made  the  subject  of  inquiry 
and  action  on  the  part  of  all. 

"For  the  honor,  then,  of  the  other  members  of 
our  political  compact  who  form  a  part  of  our  shield 
against  the  outside  world,  and  to  enable  them  in 
view  of  the  attached  responsibility,  to  accord, 
with  a  clear  conscience,  full  deference  to  our 
claim  to  the  right  of  local  self-government,  it  is 
incumbent  upon  us  to  act  worthily  here. 

"Gentlemen,  our  own  larger  interests  are  in- 
volved in  this  matter.  It  is  our  privilege,  and 
our  duty  as  well,  to  contribute  our  best  heart  and 
brain  to  the  care  of  the  interests  of  our  nation 
and  to  the  guidance  of  the  world.  But  if  our 
statesmen  walk  through  the  halls  of  Congress 
emitting  from  their  garments  the  scent  of  burn- 
ing human  flesh,  when  they  would  put  forth  their 
souls  as  great  magnets  for  mankind,  the  tender, 
sensitive  world-heart  will  recede  from  their 
touch,  and  leave  their  hollow,  resounding  voices 
reverberating  through  space.  Thus  shall  we  lose 
our  share  of  great  world  leaders. 

"Gentlemen,  the  lives  of  white  men  will  be 
placed  in  jeopardy  by  a  miscarriage  of  justice 
here  to-day.  The  jury  that  refused  first  to  hang 


OUT  OF  JOINT  WITH   HIS  TIMES.  173 

a  white  man  for  killing  a  Negro,  seared  its  con- 
science, lowered  its  estimate  of  the  value  of  hu- 
man life,  and  now,  without  due  process  of  law, 
the  white  man  who  kills  any  one  is  almost  uni- 
formly exempt  from  the  death  penalty.  The  mal- 
treatment of  Negroes  according  to  immutable 
laws  precedes  but  by  one  day  the  like  maltreat- 
ment of  whites. 

"Need  I  to  tell  you  of  the  patient  dark  faces 
that  sit  in  their  humble  cabins  to-day  and  quietly 
await  your  verdict  which  will  make  their  lives  se- 
cure, or  subject  to  the  caprice  of  the  man  with 
murderous  instinct. 

"Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  remember  that  the  in- 
terests of  your  children  are  involved  in  this  case. 
The  capital  on  which  they  are  to  begin  life  is  nec- 
essarily that  which  they  draw  from  your  social 
manifestations.  They  saw  that  holiday  crowd 
that  gathered  here  on  the  day  of  the  burning  and 
some  of  those  hot  human  ashes  fell  in  their  inno- 
cent faces.  What  happened  here  that  day  will 
be  talked  over  by  them  in  their  childish  sports. 
Let  us  give  to  them  a  fitting  conclusion  to  the  re- 
cital. We  have  made  it  possible  for  them  to  say 
that  the  deed  was  done.  Let  us  avoid  contribut- 
ing to  their  hardness  of  heart,  by  causing  them 
to  say  that  the  deed  was  spurned. 

Having  at  length  put  before  you  the  claims  of 
society  whose  mouthpiece  I  am  this  day,  I  am 
now  ready  to  deal  more  specifically  with  the  case 
before  us. 

"I  have  no  hesitancy  in  asserting  that  the  evi- 
dence before  you,  gentlemen,  is  of  a  sufficient 
character  to  justify  the  conviction  of  the  defend- 
ant. The  case  is  so  plain  that  it  seems  like  argu- 
ing an  axiom  to  discuss  it.  I  will  not  impugn 
the  intelligence  of  this  jury  by  a  review  of  the 


174  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

evidence  in  so  plain  a  case.  But  knowing  the 
deadening  miasma  of  race  prejudice  that  hangs 
over,  envelops  and  stifles  us  so  often,  I  shall 
dwell  briefly  upon  the  nature  of  the  crime  com- 
mitted by  the  defendant. 

"A  Negro,  acting  upon  that  instinct  of  self- 
preservation  that  ramifies  all  nature,  shot  down 
his  would-be  murderer,  no  other  course  save  the 
surrender  of  his  life  being  open  to  him.  Have  we 
gone  back  to  the  days  of  the  cannibal  kings,  when 
it  was  deemed  a  virtue  for  a  subject  to  lay  down 
his  life  to  satisfy  a  whim  of  his  master?  Have 
we,  the  proud  Anglo-Saxon  race,  fallen  so  low 
that  we  are  to  ask  that  the  Negro  meekly  lay 
down  in  our  pathway,  while  we  enjoy  the  pleas- 
ant sport  of  boring  holes  through  his  body?  If 
this  is  not  what  we  mean,  how  do  you  account  for 
that  writhing  form,  the  form  of  that  Negro, 
whose  only  offense  was  that  he  sought  to  pre- 
serve from  the  violence  of  man  a  life  granted 
unto  him  by  his  Maker? 

"And  now  I  come  to  the  crowning  horror  of 
the  ages.  Our  poets  have  sung  in  loftiest  strains 
of  the  devotion  of  woman. 

"A  Negro  wife,  true  to  that  impulse  of  the 
woman's  heart  that  has  made  this  old  world 
worth  living  in,  that  has  taught  men  that  the  fire- 
side is  worth  dying  for,  that  impluse — devotion 
to  a  loved  one  in  distress,  led  that  girl  to  journey 
by  her  husband's  side  through  bog  and  swamp, 
bearing  up  bravely  under  the  scorching  heat  of 
the  sun  and  wilting  not  in  the  dead  of  night  amid 
the  gloom  of  the  beast  infested  forest. 

"Ah !  gentlemen,  that  girl  deserved  better  of  us 
than  what  we  gave  her.  And  I  declare  unto  you 
that  as  the  ages  roll  by,  the  people  of  the  earth  are 
going  to  make  of  those  cruel  flames  that  wrapped 


"  'Is  it  a  crime  for  me,  one  of  your  sons,  to  invoke  loyalty 
to  the  national  constitution?     If  so,  I  commit  that  crime.'  ' 

(I74-I/5.) 


OUT  OF  JOINT  WITH   HIS  TIMES,  175 

themselves  about  her  nude  body  a  fiery  chariot 
of  glory  to  carry  the  blessed  memory  of  her  de- 
votion from  age  to  age. 

"Such  will  be  the  verdict  of  the  future;  but, 
gentlemen  of  the  jury,  you  are  this  moment  the 
mouthpiece  of  your  age  and  we  are  concerned 
about  your  verdict. 

"Gentlemen  of  the  jury,  the  evidence  in  this 
case,  the  revolting  nature  of  the  crime  and  every 
consideration  of  society  demands  a  verdict  of 
guilty.  We  have  reached  the  apex  of  infamy  in 
the  crime  which  lies  unavenged  at -our  doors. 

"Let  us  retrace  our  steps  beginning  here  to- 
day. Seeing  whither  our  present  policy  as  a 
people  toward  the  Negro  has  led  us,  let  us  adopt 
another  course. 

"Is  it  a  crime  for  me,  one  of  your  sons  to  in- 
voke loyalty  to  our  national  constitution?  If  so 
I  commit  that  crime.  Let  us  accept  the  Negro 
as  a  partner  in  our  government,  and  acts  such 
as  these  will  not  occur.  Nor  in  so  saying  do  I 
abate  one  inch,  of  my  stand  for  white  supremacy. 
As  long  as  there  are  distinct  races  there  will  be 
racial  aspirations  for  first  place.  But  I  crave 
not  the  first  place  born  .of  the  prestige  of  sitting 
upon  a  throne  whose  base  is  forever  lapped  by 
the  waves  of  the  blood  of  the  innocent  and  the 
helpless.  I  stand  for  white  supremacy  in  intel- 
lect, in  soul  power,  in  grasp  upon  the  esteem 
of  others  through  sheer  force  of  character.  But 
all  this  aside.  Justice  whom  you  cannot  afford 
to  banish  from  your  borders  calls  upon  you  to 
pronounce  over  this  defendant's  head  the  verdict 
of  guilty." 

Young  Maul's  speech  was  now  over,  but  he 
did  not  sit  down.  Having  declared  himself  in  the 


176  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

manner  that  he  did,  he  knew  that  he  was  -hence- 
forth to  be  a  political  outcast,  a  pariah.  He  had 
not  stood  up  for  the  extension  of  the  caste  idea 
to  the  political  system  and  knew  that  its  ban 
would  henceforth  be  upon  him.  Yet  in  spite  of 
the  dreary  future  which  his  speech  had  carved 
out  for  him  his  soul  was  at  ease,  for  he  was  con- 
scious of  having  advocated  that  which  was  best 
for  his  people.  Grasping  his  hat  he  strode  out 
of  the  room,  not  waiting  for  the  verdict  of  the 
jury. 

"It  is  a  pity  that  our  section  can  find  no  place 
for  so  true  a  soul  presided  over  by  so  bright  a 
mind,"  thought  the  judge,  his  eyes  following 
young  Maul,  as  the  latter  passed  out  of  the  court 
room,  and  through  the  court  house  yard,  looking 
neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the  left.  The  people 
understood  his  going.  He  was  saying  that  he 
had  done  his  duty  and  personally  could  be  ab- 
solved from  concern  as  to  results. 

The  lawyers  for  the  defense,  feeling  sure  of  the 
jury,  saw  no  necessity  for  the  making  of  speeches 
on  their  part.  They  waived  their  rights  in  this 
particular,  and  the  jury,  after  bemg  solemnly 
charged  by  the  judge,  was  handed  the  case. 

The  Negro  at  the  door  selling  lemonade  had 
been  an  eager  listener  to  all  that  was  said  in  the 
case.  He  had  now  totally  suspended  his  sales 
and,  standing  in  the  door  was  eagerly  scanning 
the  faces  of  the  jurymen,  who  had  announced 


OUT  OF  JOINT  WITH   HIS  TIMES.  177 

that  they  did  not  need  to  retire,  but  could  return 
a  verdict  on  the  spot. 

"Come  here,  darkey,  with  your  lemonade," 
called  a  white  man  on  the  outside  to  the  Negro. 

The  Negro  obeyed,  though  his  heart  for  some 
cause  was  in  the  court  room.  Suddenly  there 
was  a  tumult  in  the  court  room  and  the  Negro 
dropped  his  lemonade  bucket  and  ran  to  the  door. 
He  saw  a  crowd  surging  about  the  J.yncher  that 
had  been  on  trial,  and  he  cried  out  in  startling 
tones : 

"Gemmen,  don't  do  dat.  Don't  kill  de  man. 
De  boy  whut  wuz  burnt,  I'm  his  daddy.  I  jes' 
wanted  yer  ter  'nounce  de  man  guilty  so  as  ter  tek 
de  stain  off'n  de  dead;  but  fur  Gawd's  sake,  don' 
lynch  de  man." 

The  judge  saw  through  it  all  at  once  and  has- 
tened to  Silas  Harper's  side,  for  it  was  he,  Bud's 
father.  In  sorrowful  tones  the  judge  said, 
"You  are  mistaken,  friend.  They  are  congratu- 
lating the  man.  They  are  not  trying  to  hurt 
him.  The  jury  has  said  that  he  was  not  guilty. 
You  had  better  come  and  go  with  me.  They 
might  become  enraged  against  you  and  have  an- 
other lynching." 

Silas  Harper's  jaws  fell  apart  in  amazement 
and  his  eyes  took  on  the  look  of  a  terror-stricken, 
hunted  animal.  He  meekly  slunk  along  after 
the  judge,  and  to  an  outsider  would  have  ap- 
peared to  be  a  criminal  doomed  to  die. 


12 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


A  Joyful  Farewell. 

R.  SEABRIGHT  sat  upright  in  bed 
and  rubbed  his  eyes.  The  gas  was  burn- 
ing and  there  sat  a  man  in  one  corner 
of  his  bedroom,  turning  a  rifle  over  and 
over,  in  a  cool  manner,  a  keen  look  of  satisfac- 
tion in  his  eyes. 

"Am  I  dreaming?  0,  I  am  dreaming!"  said 
Mr.  Seabright,  trying  to  thus  reassure  himself; 
but  a  man  was  sitting  in  a  chair  in  the  corner,  all 
as  plain  as  day. 

"But  I  have  had  dreams  that  appeared  as  real," 
thought  Mr.  Seabright. 

He  pinched  himself  so  as  to  further  determine 
the  fact  as  to  whether  he  was  awake  or  asleep. 
Being  thoroughly  convinced  that  he  was  awake, 
he  quickly  fell  back  in  the  bed  and  pulled  the 
cover  over  his  head.  Remembering,  however, 
the  man's  rifle,  he  pulled  the  covering  far  enough 
down  to  allow  one  terrified  eye  to  keep  track  of 
the  weapon. 

"Mr.  Seabright!"  called  the  intruder, 
"Sir,"  responded  Mr.  Seabright,  in  sepulchral 
tones. 
(178) 


A  JOYFUL  FAREWELL.  179 

"I  think  your  wife  belongs  to  that  man  Mar- 
shall's church,"  remarked  the  man. 

Mr.  Seabright  nodded  assent. 

"Tell  her  that  her  pastor  will  hardly  live  till 
morning  and  that  he  would  like  to  see  her/'  said 
the  man. 

Mr.  Seabright  had  now  found  courage  to  pull 
the  cover  down  from  over  the  other  eye,  and  it 
now  rested  on  his  nose. 

"Did  you  hear  me,"  said  the  man,  rather 
sharply. 

"You  will  please  excuse  my  boldness,"  said  Mr. 
Seabright,  tremblingly,  "but  you  have  a  totally 
wrong  conception  of  my  disposition  I  fear,  Mr. 
Stranger.  You  can  get  the  full  benefit  of  my 
services  with  only  the  butt  end  of  that  thing 
pointing  my  way,  instead  of  the  occasional  shift- 
ing of  the  muzzle  in  my  direction." 

The  stranger  smiled  coldly  and  said,  "Tell  her 
what  I  said." 

Mr.  Seabright  now  got  out  of  bed  and  pro- 
ceeded to  the  door  opening  from  his  room  into 
that  of  his  wife. 

"Arabelle!"  called  Mr.  Seabright  through  the 
partly  opened  door. 

Mrs.  Seabright,  who  was  in  the  midst  of  a  hor- 
rible dream,  sprang  out  of  bed. 

"Arabelle,  Percy  G.  Marshall  is  dying  and 
would  like  to  see  you." 

"0  my  God!  Can  I  save  him?"  she  cried, 
wringing  her  hands. 


180  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

Excited  though  she  was,  it  was  not  long  before 
she  was  attired  and  rushing  to  the  study  of  the 
church  where  she  was  told  that  she  would  find 
the  dying  man.  The  door  of  the  study  was 
slightly  ajar  so  that  she  had  no  trouble  in  enter- 
ing. There  upon  the  sofa  lay  the  dying  man,  his 
hand  pressed  to  his  side,  evidently  in  an  effort  to 
staunch  the  flow  of  blood.  It  is  the  young  man 
whom  we  saw  repeating  his  childhood  prayer 
after  Mrs.  Seabright  in  the  Domain  Hotel. 

"I  knew  that  it  would  come  to  this,  mother.  I 
wanted  to  live  to  tell  you  that,"  said  the  dying- 
preacher. 

"0  my  boy,  my  darling!  0  what  has  lain 
hold  of  me?"  cried  Mrs.  Seabright,  as  she  knelt 
by  the  bedside  of  the  dying  one  and  kissed  his  lips 
fervently. 

A  gasp  and  the  spirit  of  the  young  man  was 
gone.  A  loud  scream  rang  out  on  the  night  air 
when  Mrs.  Seabright  realized  that  it  was  all  over 
with  him. 

"Wait,  my  boy,  mother  is  corning." 

Taking  from  her  bosom  a  small  vial  she  swal- 
lowed the  contents,  fell  across  the  breast  of  the 
dead  and  joined  him  in  the  spirit  land. 
*****  *  *  * 

When  Mr.  Seabright  had  delivered  to  Mrs. 
Seabright  the  message  of  the  intruder,  he  turned 
and  looked  at  the  man  in  a  helpless  sort  of  way. 
When  Mrs.  Seabright  was  gone  the  man  re- 
marked to  Mr.  Seabright; 


A  JOYFUL  FAREWELL.  181 

"I  been  had  my  eye  on  your  house  for  sevul 
years.  It  makes  a  good  fort  to  shoot  frum.  It'll 
be  turned  to  that  use  to-day.  You'd  better  clean 
out,  for  a  mob  '11  be  here  soon." 

"0  my  God!  Have  they  found  rne  out?  0 
my  God!  my  God!"  said  Mr.  Seabright,  wringing 
his  hands. 

"You  may  git  now,  I  say/'  said  the  man. 

Mr.  Seabright  sought  to  put  on  his  clothes,  but 
trembled  so  that  he  did  not  make  much  head- 
way. His  visitor,  to  expedite  matters,  assisted 
him  in  dressing. 

'Take  your  money  and  the  like.  I  won't  need 
it  where  I'll  be  'fore  night,"  said  the  intruder. 

Mr.  Seabright  took  advantage  of  this  offer  to 
pile  into  a  small  valise  all  the  money,  valuable 
papers  and  jewels  in  the  house  that  he  could  find. 
He  went  out  of  the  rear  door  and  passed  back  to 
his  stable,  and  out  into  the  alley. 

Casting  a  look  back  at  his  house,  he  said: 
"Farewell,  Hades!"  Looking  up  into  the  heav- 
ens, he  whispered  as  he  ran:  "In  case,  0 
stars,  any  inquiry  is  made  of  you  as  to  my  where- 
abouts, please  let  it  be  known,  of  course  with- 
out specifying  the  exact  spot,  that  I  have  gone 
to  the  land  of  the  Eskimo.  My  face  will  soon 
be  overgrown  with  a  beard  which  I  shall  so  dye 
that  the  keenest  scented  mob  in  all  the  world  can 
not  discern  any  difference  between  my  humble 
self  and  the  anatomy  of  the  regulation  Eskimo. 
So,  farewell!" 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 


Gus  Martin. 

US  MARTIN,  for  it  was  he  who  was 
Mr.  Seabright's  visitor,  saw  to  it  that 
every  window  and  door  of  the  house 
was  properly  barred,  and  then  re- 
paired to  the  tower  which  commanded  every  ap- 
proach to  the  house.  To  his  very  great  surprise 
he  found  the  tower  a  veritable  arsenal  with  am- 
munition in  abundance  and  death  dealing  devices 
of  the  most  improved  types.  He  perceived  that 
the  tower  was  protected  by  armor  plate  and 
was  so  constructed  that  one  might  fire  upon  oth- 
ers with  practically  no  danger  of  being  hit  him- 
self. 

"Beyond  doubt  I  shall  go  to  judgment  to-day, 
but  I  shall  take  along  with  me  a  putty  good 
body  guard,"  said  Martin,  as  he  settled  himself 
back. 

The  day  dawned  beautifully,  and  Martin  put  a 
hand  to  his  lips  arid  threw  a  kiss  at  the  sun.  "To- 
morrow I'll  know  more  about  you  than  I  do  now," 
said  he.  "And  some  others  will,  too,"  he  added, 

(182) 


GUS  MARTIN.  183 

At  about  eleven  o'clock  he  saw  leaping  the 
front  gate  a  tall  raw  boned  bloodhound. 

"Its  a  pity  a  pore  dum'  brute  has  got  to  lead 
this  pursession;  but  if  it  mus'  be,  it  mus'  be." 

So  saying,  he  lifted  his  rifle  to  his  shoulder  and 
a  shot  rang  out  on  the  air.  The  beast  leaped 
high  up  in  the  air,  twisted  his  head  to  one  side 
and  plunged  forward  lifeless.  Within  a  few  more 
moments  a  second  hound  appeared,  and  he  met  a 
like  fate.  Soon  there  was  a  clatter  of  a  horse's 
feet  and  an  officer  of  the  law  came  dashing  down 
the  street.  As  he  got  opposite  the  Seabright 
home  a  rifle  shot  rang  out  and  his  horse  fell, 
throwing  the  rider  against  an  electric  light  post, 
and  stunning  him  for  the  time  being.  Martin 
aimed  his  rifle  at  the  officer  as  he  lay,  then  low- 
ered it. 

"Not  yet.  Ain't  had  the  confab  yet." 
The  people  in  the  vicinity  perceived  that  there 
was  something  unusual  going  on  and  began  to 
crowd  in  front  of  the  space  facing  the  Seabright 
residence.  It  soon  became  known  that  Rev.  Percy 
G.  Marshall  had  been  murdered  and  the  murderer 
had  been  tracked  to  the  Seabright  residence.  It 
was  also  surmised  that  the  offender  was  a  Negro, 
as  the  hounds  had  traced  him  from  the  place  of 
the  killing  to  a  Negro  dwelling,  thence  on  to  the 
Seabright  house.  The  city  of  Almaville  was  soon 
in  a  ferment  and  the  white  people  poured  out  to 
that  section  of  the  town.  Several  thousand  peo- 


184  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

pie  were  soon  massed  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Seabright  residence. 

Martin  had  provided  himself  with  a  speaking 
trumpet  and  through  it  he  now  shouted,  "You 
people  are  permitted  to  stand  in  front  uv  these 
premises,  but  you  mustn't  'tempt  to  git  over  my 
front  yard  fence." 

Some  one  suggested  the  getting  of  a  trumpet 
to  induce  whoever  the  party  was  to  allow  officers 
of  the  law  to  come  in  unmolested.  The  trumpet 
was  procured  and  the  following  dialogue  took 
place. 

The  trumpeteer  of  the  crowd  shouted,  "Who- 
ever you  are,  we  call  upon  you  in  the  name  of  the 
State  to  surrender." 

Martin  replied,  "I'm  a  nigger.  Martin  is  my 
name.  I  have  killed  a  white  man  fur  a  good 
cause.  Before  I  give  up  I  would  like  to  have  a 
little  talk  with  the  sheriff.  Tell  him  to  step  to 
the  neares'  tellerphone  place  -and  call  up  Sea- 
bright." 

The  sheriff  did  as  requested  and  Gus  went  to 
the  telephone. 

"Say,  Mistah  Sheriff,  this  is  Gus  Martin  that 
saw  Dave  Harper  lynched.  If  I  give  up  to  you 
will  you  perteck  me?" 

"I'll  do  what  I  can,  Martin.  Of  course,  you 
know  what  you  have  done." 

"Will  you  lose  your  life  trying  to  perteck  me?" 
asked  Martin. 

"Well,  uh— well,  Martin,  that's  pretty  hard  to 


"  'I  have  tellerphoned  'round  the  world  and  there  ain't  no 
justice  nowhere  fur  a  black  man.  We'll  fight  it  cut  right 
here,'  " 

(184-185) 


GUS  MARTIN.  185 

say,  considering  you  murdered  one  of  my  race, 
you  know." 

"Ring  off,"  said  Martin. 

Gus  now  called  up  the  Governor's  office. 

" Governor,  this  is  Gus  Martin.  Will  you  per- 
teck  my  life  if  I  surrender  to  this  heah  sheriff? 
I  am  'cused  uv  killin'  a  white  preacher." 

"I  can  do  nothing  unless  called  upon  by  the  sher- 
iff of  your  county,"  said  the  Governor,  and  put 
up  the  telephone  receiver. 

The  Seabright  residence  had  'long  distance' 
telephone  connections  and  Gus  called  up  the 
White  House  at  Washington.  He  stated  his  case 
and  the  secretary  to  the  President  replied : 

"We  are  powerless  to  act.  The  most  that  we 
can  at  present  do  is  to  create  a  healthy  public 
sentiment  against  lynching." 

"Ha!  ha!  ha!"  laughed  Gus  through  the  tele- 
phone. "Is  that  all  you  can  say  to  a  man  that 
risked  his  life  fur  your  flag?" 

Gus  now  called  up  the  British  legation  to  sound 
it  on  the  question  of  proposing  intervention  on 
the  part  of  the  leading  nations  of  the  world.  He 
was  told  that  the  problem  was  a  domestic  one  and 
that  foreign  countries  could  not  intervene.  Gus 
returned  to  his  trumpet  and  said, 

"I  have  tellerphoned  'round  the  world  and  there 
ain't  no  justice  nowhere  fur  a  black  man*  We'll 
fight  it  out  right  here." 

In  the  meantime  five  young  men  had  formed 
an  agreement  that  they  would  make  the  dash  to 


186  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

the  building.  They  had  figured  that  Gus  could 
not  shoot  all  five  before  one  of  them  could  reach 
the  lower  door  and.  be  sheltered  from  the  fire. 
They  made  the  dash,  but  Gus  was  quicker  than 
they  fancied,  and  one  by  one  they  went  down  be- 
fore his  deadly  aim.  The  city  was  in  a  frenzy. 
We  must  leave  the  scene  of 'combat  for  a  while 
in  order  to  be  prepared  for  the  dramatic  turn 
events  were  about  to  take. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 


Tiara  Mystifies  Us. 

IARA  WAS  sitting  on  the  f i  ont  porch  of 
her  home  gazing  pensively  out  upon 
the  blue  hills  that  fringed  the  distant 
horizon. 

On  the  day  previous  she  had  been  able  to  pro- 
nounce the  wounded  Earl  well  and  he  had  gone 
forth  solemnly  pledged  to  no  longer  rebel  against 
the  overwhelming  desire  of  the  Negro  race  to 
pursue  steadily  the  policy  of  moral  suasion,  as  ex- 
emplified by  Ensal. 

That  morning  Eunice  had  taken  her  departure 
and  had  for  some  reason  or  other  refused  to 
let  Tiara  know  her  destination. 

Tiara  missed  Eunice,  but  there  was  a 
countervailing  joy  in  her  soul.  Eunice  gone, 
her  period  of  exile  was  over,  and  Ensal 
— 0,  well,  well;  he  could  call  to  see  her 
sometimes.  That  was  as  much  as  she  would 
admit  to  herself,  but  there  was  an  enlivening 
sparkle  to  those  beautiful  dark  eyes  whenever 
that  individual  came  before  her  mind.  She  was 
intending  that  night  to  write  him  a  note  suggest- 
ing that  he  ought  to  call  and  receive  an  account 
of  her  stewardship  in  the  matter  of  preserving 

(187) 


188  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

Earl's  life.  That  was  a  non-committal  piece  of 
territory  on  which  a  renewal  of  friendly  rela- 
tions might  begin,  she  felt.  The  newsboy  came 
riding  along  and  tossed  the  afternoon  paper  upon 
her  porch.  She  picked  up  the  paper,  opened  it 
and  glanced  at  the  various  headings.  In  an  in- 
stant her  interest  in  the  paper  was  more  than 
perfunctory. 

She  saw  an  account  of  the  murder  of  Rev, 
Percy  G.  Marshall,  and  of  the  besieging  of  the 
supposed  murderer  that  was  still  in  progress 
when  the  paper  went  to  press. 

At  that  moment  a  white  man  was  passing  in  a 
buggy.  Tiara  hailed  him,  grasped  a  hat  and  was 
soon  in  the  buggy  by  his  side  begging  him  to 
speed  her  to  the  city,  which  the  wondering  man 
kindly  did. 

Directed  by  Tiara,  the  man  drove  to  the  edge 
of  the  crowd  of  besiegers.  By  brave  struggling, 
her  hat  gone,  her  long  hair  down  her  back,  her 
dress  torn,  she  made  her  way  to  the  front  of 
the  swaying,  surging  mass  of  frenzied  humanity. 

"Gentlemen,"  said  she,  "Let  us  stop  this  fright- 
ful slaughter.  Suspend  hostilities!  Give  me  a 
chance  and  I  will  bring  things  out  all  right.  All 
I  ask  is  that  you  respect  my  prisoner." 

Tiara's  sweet,  strong  voice  carried  conviction 
and  the  crowd  in  silence  awaited  her  action. 
Snatching  a  walking  stick  from  a  bystander  and 
tearing  a  sleeve  from  her  dress  she  made  a  flag 
of  trr.ce.  and  mounted  the  steps  of  the  gate. 


TIARA  MYSTIFIES  us.  189 

Through  his  trumpet  Martin  shouted,  "Flag  uv 
truce  held  by  the  lady  won't  be  shot  at,  purvided 
no  one  else  comes  with  her/* 

The  crowd  now  awaited  with  feverish  anxiety 
the  outcome  of  this  new  turn  of  affairs.  Tragic 
as  were  the  surroundings,  the  great  throng  found 
time  to  admire  the  great  beauty,  the  magnificent 
form,  the  queenly  carriage  of  Tiara,  as  bare- 
headed and  with  flag  aloft  she  marched  up  to  the 
citadel  of  the  outlaw. 

Martin  met  her  at  the  door,  let  her  in  and  ran 
back  to  the  tower  to  see  that  no  one  took  advan- 
tage of  his  absence  to  attempt  to  approach  the 
building.  But  his  precaution  was  unnecessary. 
It  was  a  matter  of  honor  with  the  great  throng 
and  none  thought  of  violating  the  flag  of  truce. 

Tiara  followed  Martin  to  the  tower  and  spoke 
to  him  a  few  words  in  a  low,  earnest  voice. 

"Woman,  is  that  true?  And  all  this  havoc  to 
be  laid  at  my  door?" 

"My  God!"  said  Martin  humbly.  "My  God,", 
he  murmured  again.  Steadily  down  the  stair- 
way he  walked  and  flung  the  door  wide  open,  say- 
ing to  Tiara,  wrho  followed,  "Well,  Pm  done. 
They  may  have  me."  Tossing  his  rifle  in  midair, 
he  said,  "I  give  up,  gentlemen."  Taking  the 
white  flag  he  marched  down  the  sidewalk,  stepped 
outside  the  gate  and  stretched  forth  his  hand  for 
the  sheriff  to  handcuff  him.  No  sooner  was  he 
thus  fastened  than  the  mob  surged  in  upon  him. 
A  blow  from  a  stick  knocked  him  down.  As  he 


190  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

lay  upon  the  ground  the  muzzle  of  a  pistol  was 
seen  protruding  from  each  of  the  side  pockets  of 
his  pants.  Leroy  Crutcher,  whose  testimony  had 
helped  to  stimulate  the  mob  that  lynched  Dave 
Harper,  was  again  on  hand.  Eager  for  a  souvenir 
that  would  enable  him  to  boast  to  the  white  peo- 
ple as  to  how  he  stood  by  them,  he  stooped  down 
to  snatch  one  of  the  protruding  pistols.  Martin 
had  the  pistols  so  set  in  his  pocket  that  to  snatch 
them  would  pull  the  triggers  and  cause  them  to 
fire.  A  shot  rang  out  and  ploughed  into  Leroy 
Crutcher's  body  and  he  fell  a  corpse. 

The  crowd  swayed  back  from  Gus  in  supersti- 
tious fear,  taking  him  to  be  a  remarkable  per- 
sonage to  be  able  to  keep  up  a  bombardment  in 
his  condition.  As  no  more  shots  came  the  mob 
felt,  reassured  and  drew  near  the  prostrate  form 
of  Gus.  His  eyes  looked  up  into  scores  of  pistols 
now  leveled  at  him,  and  as  they  rang  out  their 
death  song  Gus  Martin  smiled  and  died. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 


Poor  Fellow. 

HE  WHOLE  of  the  night  following  the 
Gus  Martin  tragedy  was  spent  by  En- 
sal  in  sorrowful  meditation,  as  he  rest- 
lessly walked  to  and  fro  in  his  room. 
The  Rev.  Percy  G.  Marshall  had  been  an  out- 
spoken friend  of  the  Negro.  The  white  South, 
Ensal  felt,  had  at  one  time  seemed  to  fetter  its 
pulpit,  not  allowing  it  much  latitude  in  dealing 
with  great  moral  questions  that  chanced  to  have 
an  accompanying  political  aspect.  Ensal  had 
looked  on  with  profound  admiration  as  the  young 
Rev.  Mr.  Marsha1.!,  by  precept  and  by  example, 
boldly  led  the  way  for  an  enlarged  scope  for  the 
white  clergy  of  the  South. 

Had  the  pulpit  in  question  done  its  full  duty 
in  preaching  against  the  institution  of  Slavery,  it 
might  have  been  eradicated  by  peaceful  means, 
and  the  Civil  War  averted,  was  Ensal's  firm  con- 
viction, and  he  further  felt  that  the  future  well- 
being  of  the  South  and  the  happy  adjustment  of 
the  relations  of  the  races  was  largely  dependent 
upon  the  extent  to  which  the  white  preachers 
taught  the  brotherhood  of  man  and  invoked  the 

(191) 


192  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

application  of  the   Golden   Rule   to   all    pending 
problems. 

In  all  this  work  the  Rev.  Percy  G.  Marshall 
was  a  pioneer  spirit,  and  by  degrees  the  white 
pulpit  of  the  South  was  growing  more  and  more 
aggressive  and  emphatic.  And  now  it  was  the 
irony  of  fate  that  this  young  minister  should  be 
slain  by  a  member  of  the  race  for  which  he  had 
imperilled  his  own  standing  among  the  whites. 

In  addition  to  his  grief  over  the  tragic  death 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Marshall,  there  was  another 
phase  of  the  Gus  Martin  affair  that  gave  Ensal 
deep  concern.  Gus  was  the  child  of  the  new 
philosophy  that  was  taking  hold  of  the  race, 
which  was  as  follows: 

Faith  in  the  general  government  was  at  a  low 
ebb.  Concerted  action  of  a  warlike  nature  on 
the  part  of  the  race  was  regarded  as  being  out 
of  the  question,  if  for  no  other  reason  than 
that  the  Negro  leaders  were  practically  a  unit 
in  pronouncing  such  a  course  one  of  stupendous 
folly  under  the  existing  unequal  conditions. 
Word  was  therefore  being  passed  down  the  line 
that  every  man  was  to  act  for  himself,  that  each 
individual  was  himself  to  resent  the  injustices 
and  indignities  perpetrated  upon  him,  and  that 
each  man  whose  life  was  threatened  in  a  lawless 
way  could  help  the  cause  of  the  race  by  killing  as 
many  as  possible  of  the  lawless  band,  it  being  con- 
tended that  the  adding  of  the  element  of  danger 


POOR  FELLOW.  193 

to  mob  life  would  make  many  less  inclined  to 
lawlessness. 

Ensal  saw  where  such  a  course  would  lead  the 
race.  Negroes  were  ordinarily  approached  in  the 
name  of  the  law  and  in  that  name  disarmed. 
When  the  law  had  thus  rendered  them  helpless, 
the  mob  would  form  and  be  presented  with  the 
object  of  its  wrath  bound  hand  and  foot. 

Resistance,  then,  to  be  effective  would  have  to 
be  offered  to  the  officers  of  the  law.  The  utter 
pitiableness  of  the  lone  Negro  being  sent  by  this 
philosophy  to  fight  the  organized  power  of  mod- 
ern society  went  home  to  Ensal's  heart. 

The  night  passed  and  dawn  found  him  yet 
pacing  his  room.  His  mother  summoned  him  to 
breakfast,  but  the  all-night  agony  of  his  spirit 
had  robbed  him  of  an  appetite.  The  mail  man's 
whistle  blew,  announcing  the  morning's  mail. 

"I  hope  I  will  get  a  letter  that  will  turn  my 
thoughts  into  another  channel." 

Such  was  Ensal's  solemn  soliloquy.  How 
little  did  he  dream  of  what  was  in  store 
for  him.  Going  to  his  front  gate  he  re- 
ceived the  mail.  To  his  great  surprise,  the 
handwriting  on  one  envelope  seemed  to  be  that 
of  Gus  Martin.  He  quickly  tore  this  letter  open 
and  read  its  contents.  He  looked  around  and  about 
cautiously,  as  if  to  see  if  any  one  was  observing 
him.  He  crumbled  the  letter  tightly  in  his  hand 
and  started  toward  the  house,  when  he  began  to 
sway  to  and  fro.  His  head  grew  dizzy,  he  tottered 
13 


194  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

and  fell.  His  mother,  who  had  been  observing  him 
through  the  window,  suppressed  an  incipient 
scream  that  almost  escaped  her  lips,  and  rushed 
to  her  son's  side.  She  had  seen  the  effects  of  the 
letter,  and  her  first  act  was  to  attempt  to  gain 
possession  of  it  for  the  possible  protection  of  her 
boy.  But  even  in  his  swooning  condition  he 
clutched  the  letter  with  so  powerful  a  grasp  that 
she  could  not  wrest  it  from  him.  She  now  criecl 
aloud  for  help,  and  neighbors  came  to  her  rescue. 

Ensal  was  borne  into  the  house,  his  mother 
keeping  in  close  touch  with  the  hand  that  held 
the  letter.  After  some  effort  he  was  restored  to 
consciousness,  and  his  first  words  were, 

"The  letter!  The  letter!  0  my  God!  the  let- 
ter!" 

"You  have  it,  my  boy.  It  has  never  left  your 
hand,"  said  his  mother. 

"Thank  heaven!"  uttered  Ensal  fervently. 

When  Ensal  seemed  to  be  nearly  restored  to 
his  normal  state  the  neighbors  retired. 

"Mother,  ask  me  not  why,  but  prepare  my 
things.  I  must  leave  America,"  said  Ensal,  in  a 
tone  so  forlorn  as  to  deeply  touch  the  mother's 
heart.  Drawing  near  to  Ensal  she  threw  her 
arms  around  his  neck  and  looked  into  his  eyes  as 
if  to  read  his  soul. 

Upon  this  holy  scene  where  troubled  son  and 
anxious  mother  meet  we  will  not  obtrude,  and  so 
step  lightly  out  of  the  room. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 


A  Revelation. 

HE  FACT  that  Ensal  was  to  resign  his 
church  and  leave  the  country  was  soon 
known  throughout  Alrnaville  and  filled 
the  hearts  of  the  good  people  of  both 
races  with  sore  regret.     Tiara  was  amazed. 

"Am  I  no  more  to  him  than  that,"  she  asked 
herself. 

Choosing  an  hour  when  she  knew  Ensal  would 
not  be  in,  Tiara  called  at  his  home  to  see  his 
mother.  Mrs.  Ellwood  received  her  in  her 
bedroom.  She  dropped  on  her  knees  by  Mrs. 
Ellwood's  side,  and  said  in  tones  that  told  of  a 
sadly  torn  heart: 

"Mrs.  Ellwood,  don't  let  your  boy  leave.  Wo 
need  him.  I — ,  don't,  don't  let  him  go." 

"I  have  plead  with  him,  my  dear,  but  his  mind 
is  made  up,  it  seems,"  said  Mrs.  Ellwood  sorrow- 
fully. 

"Perhaps  he  thinks  that — that — that  I  am  not 
— as  good  a  friend  to  him  as — ah!  but  he  ought 
to—." 

Tiara  arose,  clasped  her  hands  tightly  and  bent 
her  beautiful  face  toward  the  floor  thinking, 

C.I95) 


196  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

thinking.  Tears  began  to  gather  as  she  thought 
of  this  culminating  sorrow  of  a  life  so  full  of  sor- 
rows. 

"Mrs.  Ellwood,"  said  Tiara,  "when  your  son 
comes  home,  for  my — well — please,  oh  please,  be- 
seech him  to  stay.  Think  me  not  immodest  be- 
cause I  plead  with  you  thus.  I  feel  so  sure;  I 
know — somehow  I  know  that  if  all  were  known 
between  your  boy  and  myself  he  would  not  leave 
the  country,  at  least  would  not  leave  it — ."  Tiara 
paused  and  looked  up  at  Mrs.  Ellwood  as  she  fin- 
ished her  sentence  with  the  word,  "alone." 

"May  heaven  pardon  my  boldness,5'  said  Tiara, 
with  clasped  hands,  lifted  face  and  eyes  straining 
for  the  light  that  would  not  come  to  her  soul. 

"I  understand  you,  dear  child.  I  must  confess 
that  I  do  not  know  what  has  come,  over  Ensal." 

The  two  women  now  sat  down  upon  the  bed, 
and,  clasped  in  each  other's  arms,  silently 
awaited  Ensal's  coming. 

"Wait,  dear,"  said  Mrs.  Ellwood.  "I  will  bring 
you  a  copy  of  the  farewell  address  which  he  has 
prepared.  Girl,  my  heart  is  drawn  to  you 
and  I  love  you,  have  loved  you,  and  I  always 
thought  that  Ensal  loved  you  with  all  the  ardor 
of  his  soul.  But  I  don't  understand.  I  will  get 
the  address.  It  might  give  us  some  light." 

Mrs.  Ellwood  soon  returned  bringing  with  her 
the  document,  which  was  addressed  to  a  Negro 
organization  devoted  to  the  general  uplift  of  the 


A  REVELATION.  197 

race,  a  body  that  had  been  founded,  and  was  now 
presided  over  by  Ensal. 
The  paper  ran  as  follows: 

"FELLOW  MEMBERS:  I  believe  in  the  existence 
of  one  great  superior  Intelligence  whom  the 
Christians  know  as  the  God  of  heaven.  I  be 
lieve  that  this  great  being  accords  to  men  free 
moral  agency,  but  gathers  up  all  that  we  do  and 
shapes  it  to  his  'one  far  off  divine  event.' 

''The  Dutch  slave  trader  that  landed  his  cargo 
of  slaves  upon  the  banks  of  the  James  River  was 
moved  thereto  by  his  greed  for  gain,  we  know. 
The  Southerners  who  wrought  upon  their  slaves 
and  gave  them  the  rudiments  of  civilization, 
wrought,  we  know,  for  the  purpose  of  gain. 

"The  war  which  brought  emancipation  was 
not  in  itself  a  deliberately  planned  altruistic 
movement,  but  was  precipitated  upon  the  country, 
and  waged  primarily  in  the  interest  of  the  soli- 
darity of  the  white  race  in  America. 

"In  order  that  the  Negroes  might  preserve 
their  estate  of  freedom  and  thus  obviate  another 
martial  conflict  they  were  given  the  ballot,  and, 
that  the  national  life  might  not  be  corrupted  by 
the  putrid  exudations  from  ignorant  aliens  to  its 
civilization  and  its  ideals,  culture  was  provided 
for  the  liberated  millions. 

"The  medley  of  motives  working  through  all 
the  past  has  at  last  produced  in  America  the 
strongest  aggregation  of  Negro  life  that  has  at 
any  time  manifested  itself  upon  the  earth. 

"To  say  the  least  it  is  a  striking  coincidence 
that  simultaneous  with  the  turning  of  the 
thought  of  the  world  toward  Africa  and  the  rec- 
ognition of  the  need  therein  of  an  easily  accli- 
mated civilizing  force,  that  the  American  Ne- 


198  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

gro,  soul  wise  through  suffering,  should  come 
forth  as  a  strong  man  to  run  a  race. 

"In  America  we  are  confronted  with  a  grave 
problem,  the  adjustment  of  our  relations  with  a 
strong  race.  Some  have  suggested  that  our  so- 
cial absorption  by  this  race  is  the  only  real  solu- 
tion of  our  difficulties. 

"Fellow  Negroes,  for  the  sake  of  world  inter- 
ests, it  is  my  hope  that  you  will  maintain  your 
ambition  for  racial  purity.  So  long  as  your 
blood  relationship  to  Africa  is  apparent  to  you 
the  world  has  a  redeeming  force  specially 
equipped  for  the  work  of  the  uplift  of  that  con- 
tinent. 

"Again,  a  seer  linked  to  us  by  ties  of  blood, 
foreshadows  that  the  paramount  problem  of  our 
century  will  be  the  problem  of  the  adjustment  of 
the  white  to  the  darker  races.  If  we  disappear 
as  a  dark  race  this  world  problem  must  look  else- 
where for  special  advocates.  It  seems  to  me  that 
our  situation  is  from  every  point  of  view  eloquent 
with  the  voice  of  destiny. 

"I  go  to  introduce  a  working  force  into  the 
life  of  the  Africans  that  will  make  for  their  up- 
lift. May  it  continue  your  ambition  to  abide 
Negroes,  to  force  the  American  civilization  to 
accord  you  your  place  in  your  own  right,  to  the 
end  that  the  world  may  have  an  example  of  alien 
races  living  side  by  side  administering  the  general 
government  together  and  meting  out  justice  and 
fair  play  to  all.  If  through  the  process  of  be- 
ing made  white  you  attain  your  rights,  the  battle 
of  the  dark  man  will  remain  to  be  fought. 

"As  I  enter  therefore  upon  the  larger  mission 
of  the  American  Negro,  it  is  with  the  confident 
hope  that  my  base  of  supplies  shall  remain  intact 
that  our  struggling  kinsmen  everywhere  may 


A  REVELATION.  199 

ever  find  men  of  their  blood  piloting  the  whole 
strength  of  America  into  channels  that  make  for 
the  good  of  the  whole  human  race. 

"Yours  in  perpetual  bonds  of  brotherhood, 

"ENSAL  ELLWOOD." 

The  two  had  just  finished  the  reading  of  the 
paper  when  the  door  bell  rang. 

"Ensal's  ring,"  whispered  Mrs.  Ellwood,  who 
now  closed  Tiara  in  the  room  and  went  to  meet 
her  son. 

Armed  with  the  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  En- 
sal  was  strong  in  Tiara's  regard,  Mrs.  Ellwood 
was  ready  for  a  determined  attack.  Mother  and 
son  entered  the  study,  Ensal  perceived  at  once 
that  his  mother  had  something  of  importance  to 
say  to  him. 

"My  boy,"  she  began,  "I  know  of  the  noble 
purpose  that  moves  in  your  bosom  and  have  ever 
been  proud  of  it.  I  shall  not  chide  you  now  that 
it  turns  your  face  to  the  fatherland.  But  I  would 
have  you  marry." 

"No!  no!  no!  mother.  0  no!  never,"  said 
Ensal,  losing  all  his  wonted  calmness,  but  kissing 
his  mother  to  let  her  know  that  his  displeasure 
over  the  subject  did  not  extend  to  her  for  men- 
tioning it. 

"My  son,  I  shall  hold  you  in  utter  disfavor 
unto  the  day  of  my  death  if  you,  without  just 
cause,  declare  war  upon  womankind.  How  can 
you,  my  son!"  said  Mrs.  Ellwood  reproachfully. 

Ensal  grew  calm  and  looked  long  and  lovingly 
at  his  mother.  He  saw  that  for  some  reason  or 


200  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

other  his  mother  had  taken  up  the  battle  against 
him  and  that  he  was  under  the  necessity  of  ex- 
onerating himself.  Said  Ensal: 

" Mother,  I  am  going  to  divulge  to  you  a  secret 
which  I  had  firmly  resolved  to  carry  to  the  grave 
with  me.  I  have  withheld  it  from  you,  not  be- 
cause I  mistrusted  you,  my  dear,  dear  mother, 
but  for  the  sake  of  another.  In  all  my  life,  moth- 
er,  I  have  seen  but  the  one  girl  whom  I  have 
loved,  Tiara  Merlow — and  she  loved  another! 

The  mother  shook  her  head  and  smiled  know- 
ingly. 

"Ah,  but  I  know,  mother.  The  object  of  her 
love  was  a  white  man.  Gus  Martin  saw  him  kiss 
her  and  killed  him,  killed  the  Rev.  Percy  G.  Mar- 
shall. The  letter  which  gave  me  so  much  trouble 
told  me  all,  told  me  all !  0  my  God !  She  loved 
another." 

Mrs.  Ellwood  sat  and  looked  at  Ensal  utterly- 
dazed.  She  arose  and,  thoroughly  weakened 
physically  by  the  shock  of  Ensal's  information, 
crept  out  of  the  room  to  Tiara. 

"Darling,"  she  gasped,  "he  says  that  you  loved 
another — a  white  man — a  preacher — Percy  Mar- 
shall. Daughter,  darling,  deny  it!  Deny  it!" 

"0!  God  of  Heaven,  what  shall  I  do!  What 
shall  I  do,"  groaned  the  unhappy  Tiara. 

With  one  hand  pressed  upon  her  throbbing 
heart  and  the  other  laid  upon  her  fevered  brow 
the  beautiful  girl  left  the  Ellwood  home. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 


Mr.  A.  Hostility. 

T  WILL  be  recalled  that  in  a  very 
early  chapter  we  saw  a  cadaverous 
looking  white  man,  wearing  a  much 
worn  suit  of  clothes,  making  a  sketch 
of  Ensal's  home,  as  the  latter  was  going  out  to 
make  arrangements  with  Mrs.  Crawford  for  the 
introduction  of  Tiara  into  the  best  circles  of  Ne- 
gro life  in  Almaville. 

And  now  in  the  crisis  of  the  relations  of  Ensal 
and  Tiara  he  comes  forward  to  inject  his  pecul- 
iar virus  into  the  awful  wound  made  in  Ensal's 
heart  by  the  disclosures  of  the  Gus  Martin  letter. 

Tiara,  burdened  creature,  was  hardly  out  of 
sight  of  EnsaPs  home  when  this  man  made  his 
appearance  and  was  ushered  into  the  study. 
When  he  had  taken  the  seat  proffered  him,  he 
said : 

"Gus  Martin  wrote  me  a  letter,  enclosing  a  copy 
of  a  letter  which  he  had  sent  to  you," 

"0  heaven,  be  merciful.  Let  it  not  come  to 
that!"  said  the  agonizing  Ensal,  shocked  that 
Gus  had  let  another  know  of  the  matter  that  had 
so  disturbed  him. 

(201) 


202  THE  HINDERED  HAND, 

"Your  prayer  is  not  directed  to  me,  but  I  hear, 
understand,  and  will  answer  it.  You  do  not  wish 
the  public  to  know  of  the  contents  of  your  letter. 
You  would  shield  the  good  name  of  the  girl.  As 
I  shall  very  shortly  trust  you  with  one  of  the 
gravest  of  secrets  you  will  have  a  hostage  which 
will  of  itself  insure  silence  on  my  part.  You  and 
I,  I  am  sure  are  the  only  two  persons  to  whom 
Gus  communicated  the  affair  and  between  us  we 
can  take  care  of  the  secret." 

Ensal  stepped  across  the  room  and  clasped  the 
man's  hand  fervently  and  the  two  regarded  them- 
selves as  mutually  pledged  to  secrecy  concerning 
that  matter  and  whatever  was  now  about  to  be 
canvassed. 

"It  is  not  necessary  for  you  to  know  my  name, 
nationality  or  anything  that  pertains  to  me.  I 
am  the  incarnation  of  an  idea.  You  may  know 
me  as  Mr.  A.  Hostility,"  said  the  man. 

"Is  there  any  significance  attached  to  your 
choice  of  an  initial  to  represent  your  rather  sig- 
nificant given  name?"  asked  Ensal. 

"Decidedly,"  said  Mr.  Hostility.  "The  A 
stands  for  Anglo-Saxon,  the  God-commissioned 
or  self-appointed  world  conqueror.  I  am  the  in- 
carnation of  hostility  to  that  race,  or  to  that 
branch  of  the  human  family  claiming  the  domi- 
nance of  that  strain  of  blood." 

The  man  drew  his  seat  up  to  the  table  and, 
motioning  for  Ensal  to  take  a  seat  on  the  other 
side,  said  "Come  near  me,  friend." 


MR.   A.   HOSTILITY.  203 

Ensal  did  as  bidden  and  sitting  thus  close  to 
the  man  noted  the  almost  maniacal  look  of  in- 
tensity in  his  eye. 

Keeping  his  eyes  steadily  on  Ensal's  face,  Mr. 
Hostility  lifted  his  hand  to  his  inside  pocket  and 
drew  out  a  leathern  case.  Laying  it  on  the  table 
he  crossed  his  hands  upon  it  and  said : 

"Will  you  hear  me  patiently?  Gus  Martin  told 
me  over  and  over  again  that  you  were  a  Negro 
who  had  dedicated  your  all  to  the  welfare  of  your 
race.  I  began  watching  you  years  ago  and  I 
have  carefully  noted  the  trend  of  events  waiting 
for  the  moment  that  would  make  our  spirits  con- 
genial to  each  other,  and  I  do  believe  that  the 
dark  shadow  under  which  you  stand  will  sober 
you  into  fellowship  with  my  sombre  soul." 

"You  seem  to  be  bitter.  I  am  more  crushed 
than  bitter,"  said  Ensal. 

'*yes,  but  bitterness  is  the  next  stage,  and  I 
am  sure  that  consideration  of  a  few  things  which 
I  shall  pift  before  you  will  bring  you  to  the  next 
stage,"  said  Mr.  Hostility. 

Opening  the  leathern  case  he  said,  "Look  at 
this  map." 

Ensal  bent  forward  and  looked  at  a  map  of  the 
world  spread  out  before  him. 

"The  world,  you  see,  will  soon  contain  but  two 
colossal  figures,  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  the  Slav. 
The  inevitable  battle  for  world  supremacy  will 
be  between  these  giants.  Without  going  into  the 
question  as  to  why  I  am  a  Pro-Slav  in  this  mat- 


204  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

ter,  I  hereby  declare  unto  you  that  it  is  the  one 
dream  of  my  life  to  so  weaken  the  Anglo-Saxon 
that  he  will  be  easy  prey  for  the  Slav  in  the  com- 
ing momentous  world  struggle." 

"Do  I  understand  that  you  are  to  talk  treason 
to  me  to-day;  for  of  course  you  know  my  people 
are  tied  up  in  a  political  system  with  the  Anglo- 
Saxons,"  asked  Ensal,  with  some  warmth. 

"Ah !  That  is  the  question  ?  Are  you  a  part  of 
the  American  nation  or  a  thing  apart?  I  can 
prove  that  you  are  a  thing  apart — a  fly  in  the 
stomach  for  whose  ejection  an  emetic  is  being 
diligently  sought.  Now,  hear  me,"  said  Mr.  Hos- 
tility. 

Always  eager  to  hear  what  thoughtful  men  had 
to  say  with  regard  to  his  race,  Ensal  leaned  back 
in  his  chair,  determined  to  give  earnest  attention 
to  this  observer  of  American  life,  whose  very  hos- 
tility assured  the  acuteness  of  his  observations. 

Just  at  this  moment  Ensal's  mother  informed 
him  that  a  committee  was  in  their  parlor,  having 
come  for  the  purpose  of  pleading  with  Ensal  to 
reconsider  his  determination  to  leave  America. 

"Madam,"  said  Mr.  Hostility,  "tell  the  gentle- 
men that  there  is  a  party  closeted  with  your  son, 
who  has  the  one  key  to  the  Southern  situation 
long  needed  by  your  race,  and  that  I  am  sure 
your  son  will  abide  in  America." 

Mrs.  Ellwood  cast  a  look  of  warning  at  her  son 
as  she  withdrew  from  the  room.  She  was  not  at 
all  favorably  impressed  with  Mr.  Hostility,  and 


MR.  A.   HOSTILITY.  205 

bad  been  ill  at  ease  ever  since  he  entered  the 
house. 

Ensal  said,  "Excuse  me  a  few  moments,  Mr. 
Hostility,"  and  stepped  out  of  the  room. 

Mrs.  Ellwood,  knowing  that  her  son  would  fol- 
low her,  stopped  in  the  hallway,  and  when  he 
came  dropped  a  pistol  into  his  coat  pocket,  say-- 
ing in  a  whisper,  "My  dear  boy,  do  be  careful." 

Ensal  smiled  sadly  and  kissed  his  mother. 

"Tell  the  committee,  mother,  that  my  mind  is 
fully  made  up  and  a  discussion  of  my  going 
would  be  utterly  useless.  Take  the  name  of 
each,  assure  them  all  that  I  appreciate  their  in- 
terest and  will  call  on  them  to  have  a  social  chat 
before  I  leave,  provided,  however,  they  agree  not 
to  seek  to  disturb  my  purpose  in  this  regard." 

Ensal's  mother  went  to  the  parlor  with  his 
final  word,  and  Ensal  returned  to  Mr.  A.  Hostil- 
ity. 

Tiara  was  now  at  home  praying  that  Ensal 
might  not  leave  America  yet  awhile.  Mr.  A. 
Hostility  was  also  praying  to  his  evil  genius  for 
a  like  result. 

Monstrous. incongruity!  How  often  do  diverse 
spirits  from  widely  differing  motives  work  to- 
ward a  common  end! 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 


Two  of  a  Kind. 

HILE  ENSAL  was  absent  from  the 
room  Mr.  Hostility  had  caught  sight  of 
a  book  which  he  perceived  was  the 
work  of  a  rather  conspicuous  Southern 
man,  who  had  set  for  himself  the  task  of  turning 
the  entire  Negro  population  out  of  America.  He 
clutched  the  book  eagerly  and  said  to  himself: 

"I  will  further  inflame  the  fellow  with  this  ven- 
omous assault  on  his  race.  I  will  further  ripen 
his  heart  for  my  purposes." 

Upon  Ensal's  return  to  the  room,  Mr.  Hostlity 
called  his  attention  to  the  book  written  for  the 
express  purpose  of  thoroughly  discrediting  the 
Negro  race  in  America.  The"  militant  look  that 
came  into  Ensal's  eye  pleased  Mr.  Hostility  im- 
mensely. "I  will  get  him!  I  will  get  him!1" 
thought  he. 

Ensal  did  not  speak  for  some  time,  allowing  his 
weary  mind  to  g©  forth  upon  excursions  of 
thought  begotten  by  the  mention  of  the  book.  The 
movement  for  which  this  book  stood,  constituted 
what  Ensal  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  menacing 
(206) 


TWO  OF  A  KIND.  207 

phases  of  the  problem  of  the  relation  of  the  races. 
He  knew  that  in  the  very  nature  of  things  a  policy 
of  misrepresentation  was  the  necessary  concomi- 
tant of  a  policy  of  repression.  Now  that  the  re- 
pressionists  were  invading  the  realm  of  literature 
to  ply  their  trade,  he  saw  how  that  the  Negro  was 
to  be  attacked  in  the  quiet  of  the  AMERICAN  HOME, 
the  final  arbiter  of  so  many  of  earth's  most  mo- 
mentous questions,  and  he  trembled  at  the  havoc 
vile  misrepresentations  would  play  before  the 
truth  could  get  a  hearing. 

Ensal  thought  of  the  odds  against  the  Negro 
in  this  literary  battle:  how  that  Southern  white 
people,  being  more  extensive  purchasers  of  books 
than  the  Negroes,  would  have  the  natural  bias 
of  great  publishing  agencies  on  their  side;  how 
that  Northern  white  people,  resident  in  the  South, 
for  social  and  business  reasons,  might  hesitate  to 
father  books  not  in  keeping  with  the  prevailing 
sentiment  of  Southern  white  people;  how  that 
residents  of  the  North,  who  essayed  to  write  in 
defense  of  the  Negro,  were  laughed  out  of  school 
as  mere  theorists  ignorant  of  actual  conditions; 
and,  finally,  how  that  a  lack  of  leisure  and  the  ab- 
sence of  general  culture  handicapped  the  Negro 
in  fighting  his  own  battle  in  this  species  of  war- 
fare. 

At  last  Ensal  discussed  the  book  with  such 
warmth  that  Mr.  Hostility  greatly  rejoiced.  Lean- 
ing across  the  table,  his  fiery  eyes  glowing  more 
fiercely  than  ever,  he  almost  shrieked ; 


208  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

"Friend,  aside  from  that  book,  knowest  thou 
not  unto  what  the  content  of  the  Southern  policy 
is  leading?  Extinction,  sir,  extinction!  Listen 
to  me  awhile." 

"One  could  hardly  be  more  absorbed  than  I  am 
at  this  moment,"  said  Ensal,  rather  glad  of 
the  warmth  of  the  discussion  that  took  his  mind 
somewhat  away  from  his  personal  grief. 

"The  Southern  white  man,  when  it  comes  to 
you,  is  a  believer  in  caste.  He  believes  or  pro- 
fesses to  believe  that  God,  who  created  the  worm 
and  the  bird,  also  created  the  Negro  and  the 
white  man,  and  that  the  gulf  between  these  respec- 
tive orders  of  creations  is  just  as  wide  in  the  one 
case  as  in  the  other.  Follow  this  caste  idea  to  its 
last  analysis.  The  lower  orders  must  give  way  to 
the  higher.  The  mineral  is  absorbed  into  the 
vegetable  and  we  get  the  herb,  the  cow  conies 
along  and  crops  the  herb,  the  man  comes  along 
and  eats  the  cow.  The  higher  order  is  given  the 
power  of  life  and  death  over  the  lower.  Can't 
you  see  that  your  race  is  simply  preserved  be- 
cause it  is  not  yet  in  the  way  of  the  white  race?" 
said  Mr.  Hostility. 

"Proceed,"  said  Ensal. 

"Even  now,  when  have  you  heard  of  a  white 
man's  being  hanged  for  the  murder  of  a  Negro, 
however  cold-blooded  the  murder?  Can't  you 
see  the  awful  significance  of  that  fact?  Over 
seventy-five  thousand  Negroes  have  been  mur- 
dered in  the  South  since  your  Civil  War  and  I 


TWO  OF  A  KIND.  209 

know  of  just  one  hanging  of  a  white  as  a  result. 
Again,  the  worst  houses  to  live  in  are  assigned 
to  your  people;  the  lower  forms  of  labor,  involv- 
ing the  most  exposure  and  danger  to  life,  are  re- 
served for  your  folks.  Phosphate  mines  and 
guano  factories  shorten  liuman  life  wofully  and 
your  people  are  sought  for  these  'life  shortening' 
jobs.  Mark  my  words,"  said  Mr.  Hostility,  ris- 
ing and  bending  across  the  table,  "when  the 
Anglo-Saxon  feels  the  need  of  it,  he  is  going  to 
exterminate  you  folks.  Theories  to  the  wind! 
When  has  a  theory  or  sentiment  of  any  kind  been 
allowed  to  stand  in  the  way  of  his  interests?" 

"Well,  what  are  we  to  do?"  asked  Ensal,  anx- 
ious to  draw  the  man  out. 

The  man  dropped  back  to  his  seat.  "Now 
that's  right,"  said  he;  "'Where  there  is  a  will 
there  is  a  way,'  you  Americans  say."  Reaching 
into  his  vest  pocket  he  pulled  out  a  bottle  which 
was  hermetically  sealed.  "There,  there,  lies  your 
salvation,"  said  he,  tapping  the  bottle. 

"How  so?"  enquired  Ensal. 

"This  thing  came  to  me  like  a  revelation,"  said 
the  man,  "The  way  to  attack  an  enemy  is  to 
get  at  him  where  you  can  do  him  the  most  harm 
at  the  least  risk  to  yourself."  A  sinister  smile 
now  played  upon  the  man's  face.  "Your  color 
is  the  thing  that  operates  against  you  Negroes. 
You  can  take  what  is  your  curse  and  make  it  your 
salvation," 


210  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

The  man  was  delighted  with  the  interest 
that  was  plainly  evident  on  Ensal's  face. 

"Listen!"  said  he,  bending  forward  and  speak- 
ing in  low  tones.  "The  pigment  which  abides  in 
your  skin  and  gives  you  your  color  and  the  pecu- 
liar Negro  odor  renders  you  immune  from  yellow 
fever.  This  bottle  here  is  full  of  yellow  fever 
germs.  Organize  you  a  band  of  trusted  Negroes, 
send  them  through  the  South,  let  them  empty 
these  germs  into  the  various  reservoirs  of  the 
white  people  of  the  South  and  pollute  the  water. 
The  greatest  scourge  that  the  world  has  ever 
known  will  rage  in  the  South.  The  whites  will 
die  by  the  millions  and  those  that  do  not  die  will 
flee  from  the  stricken  land  and  leave  the  country 
to  your  people. 

"The  desolation  wrought  will  for  a  time  disor- 
ganize this  whole  nation  and  the  Pan-Slavists  will 
have  the  more  time  to  plan  for  the  coming  strug- 
gle. 

"My  scheme  helps  you  and  helps  the  Pan-Slav- 
ist  cause  and  disposes  of  a  common  foe,  a  section 
of  the  white  race.  Of  course,  we  will  have  you 
Negroes  to  fight  in  the  last  contest.  But  you 
would  prefer  being  the  ones  living  to  make  the 
fight,  would  you  not?"  asked  the  man,  now  ner- 
vously awaiting  Ensal's  next  words. 

Ensal  was  silent  for  a  few  seconds.  Then  he 
asked  slowly: 

"Do  you  make  that  proposition  to  me,  a  follow- 
er of  the  Christ?" 


TWO  OF  A  KIND.  211 

"I  have  anticipated  you  there.  Did  not  God 
use  plagues  and  a  wholesale  slaughter  to  solve 
the  Egyptian  race  problem?  Shall  you  be  more 
righteous  than  God?" 

"Really  would  you,  a  civilized  being,  propose 
to  me  a  course  that  involves  the  wholesale  destruc- 
tion of  women  and  innocent  babes?"  asked  Ensal 
with  mounting  wrath. 

"Did  not  your  God  tell  the  Hebrews  to  wage  a 
war  of  extermination  on  the  Canaanites?"  asked 
the  man. 

Ensal  arose  and  pointing  his  index  finger  at 
the  man,  said  with  a  voice  vibrant  with  deep  feel- 
ing: 

"Now  hear  me  a  while.  During  the  Civil  War 
my  race  met  the  requirements  of  honor  where- 
ever  the  test  was  applied — whether  it  was  in  the 
test  of  the  soldier  on  the  field  of  battle  or  the 
slave  guarding  the  women  and  children  at  home. 

"Nor  has  freedom  altered  this  trait  of  Negro 
character,"  continued  Ensal.  "When  discussion 
rages  fiercest,  Negro  servants  continue  to  abide 
in  white  families,  with  no  thought  of  leaving  or  of 
being  dismissed.  Negro  men  sit  in  carriages  by 
the  side  of  the  fairest  daughters  of  the  Southland 
and  take  them  in  safety  from  place  to  place.  The 
Negroes  do  the  cooking  for  the  whites,  nurse  their 
babies,  and  our  mothers  hover  about  the  bedside 
of  their  dying.  This  they  do  while  their  hearts 
are  yearning  for  a  better  day  for  themselves  and 
their  kind.  But  the  racial  honor  is  above  being 


212  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

tainted.  Let  the  Anglo-Saxon  crush  us  if  he  will 
and  if  there  is  no  God !  But  I  say  to  you,  the  Ne- 
gro can  never  be  provoked  to  stoop  to  the  perfidy 
and  infamy  which  you  suggest. 

"And  as  for  you,  sir,  I  pronounce  you  the  true 
yoke  fellow  of  him  about  whose  book  we  have 
been  talking,  who,  wearing  the  livery  of  the 
unifier  of  the  human  race,  smites  the  bridge  of 
sympathy  which  the  ages  have  builded  between 
man  and  man,  who,  inflamed  racial  egotist  that 
he  is,  would  burn  humanity  at  the  stake  for  the 
sake  of  the  glare  that  it  would  cast  upon  the  path- 
way of  the  one  race.  Is  the  issue  clearly  enough 
drawn  between  us?" 

Mr.  Hostility  nervously  folded  his  map  of  the 
world,  restored  his  bottle  of  germs  to  his  pocket, 
and  stood  facing  Ensal  in  silence  for  a  few  sec- 
onds, his  keen  disappointment  adding  to  the  un- 
canny look  of  his  face. 

"Remember,  we  have  each  other's  secrets," 
said  Mr.  Hostility  meaningly  in  tones  that  showed 
his  keen  regret  at  the  failure  in  this  instance  of 
his  long  cherished  scheme.  This  somewhat  re- 
called Ensal  to  himself. 

"Yes!  Yes!  Fear  me  not.  I  do  not  need  to 
impose  anything  whatever  between  your  sugges- 
tion and  our  racial  honor.  That  is  simply  unap- 
proachable from  that  quarter.  For  that  reason 
I  am  not  tempted  to  repeat  to  others  what  you 
have  said  to  me." 


TWO  OF  A  KIND.  213 

Thus  reassured,  Mr.  Hostility  made  a  bow  of 
mock  humility,  directed  at  Ensal  a  look  of  utter 
contempt,  and  disappeared. 

Ensal  dropped  upon  his  knees  and  prayed 
thus: 

"0  Spirit  eternal,  God  of  our  fathers,  move 
thou  upon  the  hearts  of  the  American  people  and 
bid  them  to  lift  thy  children  of  the  darker  hue 
from  their  'low  ground  of  sorrow/  where  all  the 
evil  influences  of  the  world  feel  free  to  tempt 
them.  In  all  the  dark  night  that  may  yet  await 
them,  when  men  shall  so  beset  them  as  to  threat- 
en the  sustaining  influence  of  patriotism,  grant 
from  the  dawn  eternal  the  lighted  taper  of  hope 
that  shall  throw  its  beams  athwart  the  darkness, 
and  furnish  a  cheering  glimpse  of  the  fair  end 
of  all  things.  Watch  with  thine  all  seeing  eye  and 
nail  with  thine  omnipotent  hand  the  machinations 
of  those  who  would  poison  human  hearts  and 
destroy  the  humane  instincts  that  are  the  graces 
of  our  faulty  world.  Abide  thou  here  forever  and 
grant  that  the  post  of  pilot  of  our  planet  be  given 
unto  this  land  unto  which,  though  I  depart,  my 
heart  is  moored  by  the  sweat  of  brow,  flowing 
blood  and  anguish  of  spirit  contributed  by  my  an- 
cestors. Grant  unto  this  prayer  the  full  measure 
of  consideration  that  can  be  bestowed  by  divine 
will  upon  the  heart  pleadings  of  an  earnest,  hum- 
ble soul." 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 


Working  and  Waiting. 

IARA  had  gone  home  from  her  painful 
interview  with  Mrs.  Ellwood,  and 
sought  the  seclusion  of  her  room  for 
the  purpose  of  trying  to  think  out  a 
course  of  action.  She  was  able,  she  felt,  to  make 
all  things  plain  to  Ensal,  but  in  order  to  do  this 
it  would  be  necessary  to  make  disclosures,  which, 
if  given  publicity,  would  very  materially  affect 
the  welfare  of  others.  She  felt  that  Ensal  would 
sacredly  guard  her  revelations,  but  her  disclos- 
ures would  be  of  little  service  to  him  if  he  could 
not  use  them  to  protect  himself  in  case  the  charge 
against  her  became  public. 

Not  desiring  to  put  him  in  a  possibly  embar- 
rassing position,  Tiara  concluded  to  bear  her  sor- 
row until  such  a  time  as  she  would  be  free  to  de- 
fend herself  openly,  if  such  a  course  became  nec- 
essary. As  to  when  she  would  be  in  a  position  to 
do  this,  Tiara  was  utterly  unable  to  tell  and,  to 
add  to  the  horror  of  the  situation,  there  was  ab- 
solutely nothing  that  she  could  do  to  advance  her 
interests.  Chance,  blind  chance,  so  far  as  she 
mild  see,  had  her  fate  in  hand,  and  to  all  the 

(214) 


WORKING  AND  WAITING.  215 

pleadings  of  her  heart  as  to  what  was  to  become 
of  her,  no  answer  came. 

The  time  came  for  Ensal  to  depart,  and  the  lips 
of  Tiara  were  yet  sealed  by  circumstances  and 
did  not  utter  the  word  that  would  have  set  all 
matters  right  with  her,  but  wofully  wrong  with 
some  others,  perhaps.  It  soon  became  evident  to 
Tiara  that  she  could  not  stand  the  strain  of  a  life 
of  hopeless  brooding  and  Ensal  had  not  long 
been  out  of  America  before  she  began  to  cast 
around  for  a  line  of  endeavor. 

Before  leaving  America,  Ensal  had  published 
the  address  which  he  had  prepared  in  his  contest 
with  Earl,  and  Tiara  chose  as  her  mission  the 
placing  of  a  copy  thereof  in  every  American 
home,  feeling  that  it  would  draw  to  conditions 
in  the  South  a  greater  degree  of  interest  on  the 
part  of  the  nation  as  a  whole. 

Not  only  did  Tiara  thus  appeal  to  outside  influ- 
ences for  an  amelioration  of  conditions,  but  she 
also  addressed  herself  to  matters  that  depended 
upon  forces  operating  within  the  race.  She 
looked  upon  the  dead  line  in  the  business  world 
as  being  as  baneful  as  that  in  the  political  world. 

This  spirit  of  caste  in  the  upper  grades  of 
employment  in  the  South  forbade  Negroes  from 
working  side  by  side  with  the  whites.  She  felt 
that  the  most  practicable  manner  of  banishing 
this  dead  line  was  for  Negroes  to  combine  their 
capital  and  launch  enterprises  that  would  make 
it  possible  for  their  people  to  rise  in  keeping  with 


216  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

the  claims  of  merit,  unhampered  by  the  fact  of 
their  color.  She  felt  that  the  infusion  of  hope  in 
the  industrial  world,  the  breaking  of  the  bands 
that  hopelessly  chained  the  Negroes  to  the  lower 
forms  of  labor  was  a  question  of  far  reaching 
consequence,  and  in  every  way  possible  she 
brought  the  question  home  to  the  hearts  of  the 
people. 

To  do  this  work  the  more  successfully,  Tiara 
took  the  lecture  platform  and  traveled  from 
city  to  city,  pleading  her  cause.  She  also  took 
an  active  interest  in  the  question  of  local  option, 
seeking  to  suppress  the  liquor  traffic  wherever 
local  sentiment  could  be  educated  to  the  point 
that  made  such  a  course  possible.  This  work  of 
temperance  brought  her  very  often  before  audi- 
ences in  which  there  were  white  people  and  Ne- 
groes, and  sometimes  she  spoke  to  audiences  in 
which  there  were  white  people  only. 

It  may  be  said  with  truth  that  Tiara  was  deep- 
ly concerned  in  all  these  matters  and  sometimes 
felt,  that  it  was  perhaps  destiny's  way  of  forcing 
her  out  a  reserve  that  had  hitherto  denied  the 
world  the  benefit  of  some  of  her  powers.  But 
while  her  heart  was  in  this  work,  it  must  also  be 
confessed  that  she  never  faced  an  audience  but 
that  her  beautiful  eyes  surveyed  it  with  eager- 
ness, ever  in  search  of  some  one  woman  face. 

Her  correspondence  grew  to  be  very  large,  and 
each  batch  of  letters,  before  being  opened,  was 
looked  over  hurriedly  in  the  hope  of  finding  a 


WORKING  AND  WAITING.  217 

certain  woman's  handwriting.  A  close  student  of 
countenances  could  have  discerned  over  and  over 
the  signs  of  disappointment  that  her  weary  heart 
would  often  register  upon  her  beautiful  face. 
Days  and  months  and  then  years  dragged  their 
way  slowly  along. 

At  last  one  day  Tiara's  patient  waiting  seemed 
about  to  be  rewarded.  An  exclamation  of  joy,  a 
happy  little  laugh,  a  beautiful  face  that  told  of  a 
weary  heart  at  last  made  glad,  indicated  that  the 
letter  which  Tiara  had  long  hoped  for  had  come. 

Tiara  took  the  next  train  for  Goldsboro,  Mis- 
sissippi, a  small  town  in  the  interior  of  the  state. 
It  was  not  until  the  next  morning  that  her  train 
pulled  up  to  her  stopping  place. 

"Can  you  tell  me  where  the  Hon.  Q.  A.  Johnson 
lives?" 

"To  be  shuah,  ma'am,"  said  the  Negro  lad  to 
whom  Tiara  had  spoken.  "Ef  you'll  git  right  in 
heah,  you'll  be  dah  befoh  yer  know  it,  ma'am," 
said  he  giving  a  Chesterfieldian  bow. 

As  Tiara  took  the  back  seat  of  the  double 
seated  buggy,  a  young  Negro  man  clambered 
upon  the  front  seat  by  the  side  of  the  driver  whom 
Tiara  had  accosted.  He  had  a  somewhat  intelli- 
gent looking  face  and  was  evidently  accustomed  to 
good  society,  although  his  clothes  on  this  occa- 
sion were  ragged  and  dirty.  This  Negro  had 
been  on  the  train  with  Tiara  since  leaving  Alma- 
ville,  but  she  had  been  so  absorbed  in  the  object 


218  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

of  her  mission  that  she  was  oblivious  to  all  that 
was  passing  around  her. 

"Whar  you  gwine?"  asked  the  driver  of  his 
Negro  companion. 

"Scuse  me,  but  beins  you  don't  seem  to  be  over 
prosp'rous,  I  specks  you  had  kinder  bettah  pay 
in  advance,"  said  the  driver,  with  a  diplomatic 
smile  that  said,  "Now,  don't  get  mad.  This  is  a 
business  matter." 

Without  a  word  the  stranger  pulled  out  a  bill 
and  handed  it  to  the  driver,  who  took  out  his  fare. 

Tiara  reached  the  Johnson  residence,  which 
was  a  large  building,  built  on  the  colonial  style 
and  surrounded  by  as  fine  a  set  of  trees  as  one 
could  wish  to  see.  Tiara  went  around  to  the 
kitchen  and  was  taken  into  the  dining  room  by 
the  Negro  woman  cook. 

"You  will  please  withdraw  as  I  desire  to  be 
alone  when  I  meet  Mrs.  Johnson,"  said  Tiara  to 
the  cook,  with  a  pleasant  smile. 

Mrs.  Johnson  pulled  aside  the  sliding  door 
leading  into  the  dining  room  and,  catching  sight 
of  Tiara,  uttered  a  scream  of  joyous  surprise  and 
rushed  into  her  arms.  Tiara  gently  disentangled 
herself  in  order  to  close  the  door  which  Mrs. 
Johnson  had  left  open.  Sitting  down  by  Mrs, 
Johnson's  side,  Tiara  took  hold  of  her  hand  and 
talked  in  low,  earnest  tones  for  a  few  moments, 
watching  her  countenance  the  while. 

"No,  no,  no,  I  could  not  think  of  that  for  a  mo- 
ment, No,  no,  no,"  said  Mrs.  Johnson,  and  in  her 


WORKING  AND  WAITING.  219 

heart  there  grew  a  great  coldness  toward  Tiara 
for  even  suggesting  such  a  thing. 

As  for  Tiara  her  hopes  fell  to  the  ground,  and 
with  despair  written  upon  every  feature  she  arose 
to  go.  The  two  went  to  the  back  door  through 
which  Tiara  had  entered,  Mrs.  Johnson  in  an  ex- 
cited manner  saying  over  and  over  again :  "0  no, 
no!  Such  a  thing  is  not  to  be  thought  of  for  a 
moment!"  words  that  pierced  Tiara  like  a  dagger 
each  time  they  were  uttered. 

Sitting  on  a  bench  in  the  back  yard  waiting,  as 
he  said,  for  an  opportunity  to  ask  Mrs.  Johnson 
for  a  job,  sat  the  Negro  who  had  ridden  on  the 
train  with  Tiara  and  had  come  to  the  Johnson 
residence  as  she  came.  Mrs.  Johnson  looked  at 
him,  felt  herself  grow  weak,  and  swooned  away. 
The  Negro  had  looked  scrutinizingly  at  Mrs. 
Johnson,  and  now  arose  hurriedly,  evidently  satis- 
fied with  his  inspection.  When  Mrs.  Johnson  re- 
covered consciousness,  she  asked  wildly, 

"Where  is  he?  The  Negro,  where  is  he?  Ah, 
he  will  - 

Mr.  Johnson,  who  had  been  summoned  from 
the  library  to  assist  in  caring  for  his  wife,  placed 
his  hand  over  her  mouth  and  prevented  her  from 
talking  further. 

Tiara,  who  had  become  somewhat  dazed  by 
Mrs.  Johnson's  treatment,  had  not  stopped  to  help 
care  for  the  swooning  woman,  but  had  walked 
away  as  one  in  a  trance.  How  she  made  her  way 
back  to  Almaville,  she  never  knew. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 


Back  in  Almaville. 

HE  HON.  H.  G.  VOLREES  sat  in  his 
office  room  looking  moodily  out  of  the 
window.  Since  the  desertion  of  his 
young  bride  his  life  had  been  one  long 
day  of  misery  to  him.  His  mystification  and  an- 
ger increased  with  the  years,  and  he  had  kept  a 
standing  offer  of  a  large  reward  for  information 
leading  to  the  discovery  of  his  wife.  He  had 
vowed  vengeance  upon  the  author  or  authors  of 
his  ruin. 

"Come  in,"  said  he  in  a  response  to  a  knock  on 
his  door. 

A  young  Negro  man  walked  in  and  Mr.  Volrees 
turned  around  slowly  to  look  at  his  caller. 
"This  is  Mr.  Volrees?"  asked  the  Negro. 
Mr.  Volrees  nodded  assent,  surveying  the  Ne- 
gro from  head  to  foot,  noting  the  flush  of  excite- 
ment on  his  swarthy  face. 

"I  understand  that  you  have  offered  a  reward 
for  information  leading  to  the  discovery  of  the 
whereabouts  of  your  wife,"  said  the  Negro. 

An  angry  flush  appeared  on  Mr.  Volrees'  face 
and  he  cast  a  look  of  withering  contempt  in  the 
(220) 


BACK  IN  ALMAVILLE.  221 

Negro's  direction,  who  read  at  once  Mr.  Volrees' 
disgust  over  the  fact  that  he,  a  Negro,  dared  to 
broach  the  question  of  his  family  trouble. 

"Pardon  me,"  said  the  Negro,  turning  to  leave. 

"Come  back!  Are  you  a  fool?"  said  Mr.  Vol- 
rees angrily,  his  desire  for  information  concern- 
ing his  wife  overcoming  his  scruples. 

"My  wife  took  me  to  be  one  and  left  me,"  said 
the  Negro  in  a  tone  of  mock  humility. 

Mr.  Volrees  looked  up  quickly  to  see  whether 
he  meant  what  he  was  saying  or  was  making  a 
thrust  at  him.  The  solemn  face  of  the  Negro  was 
non-committal. 

"Now,  what  do  you  know?"  asked  Mr.  Volrees 
gruffly. 

"I  know  where  your  wife  is,"  said  the  Negro. 

"How  do  you  know  that  she  is  my  wife?" 

"I  was  the  porter  on  the  train  that  you  and  she 
began  your  bridal  tour  on,"  replied  the  Negro. 

"How  have  you  been  able  to  trace  her?" 

"I  was  the  porter  on  the  train  on  which  she 
first  came  to  Almaville.  She  came  into  the  sec- 
tion of  the  coach  for  Negroes,  and  she  and  a  Ne- 
gro girl  created  a  scene." 

"Go  on!"  almost  shouted  Volrees,  now  thor- 
oughly aroused. 

"The  reward?"  timidly  suggested  the  Negro. 

"Of  course  you  get  that.  Go  on !"  said  Volrees, 
with  increasing  impatience. 

"The  affair  was  so  sad-like  that  I  always  re- 
membered the  looks  of  the  two  women,"  resumed 


222  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

the  Negro.  "One  night  not  long  ago  I  saw  the 
Negro  girl  buy  a  ticket  to  Goldsboro,  Mississippi. 
It  came  to  me  like  a  flash  that  she  was  going  to 
see  your  wife.  She  had  the  same  sad  look  on  her 
face  that  she  had  the  night  I  saw  them  together. 
I  followed  this  girl  to  Mississippi  and  sure  enough 
I  came  upon  your  wife." 

Volrees  had  now  arisen  and  was  restlessly 
moving  about  the  room,  his  brain  in  a  whirl. 

"Was  she  living  with  some  family,  or  how  was 
she  situated  ?"  he  asked. 

"She  and  her  husband  live  - 

"Her  husband!"  thundered  Volrees,  grabbing 
the  Negro  in  the  collar,  fancying  that  he  was 
grabbing  the  other  husband. 

"The  people  there  say  that  she  is  married," 
said  the  Negro  timidly. 

"I  will  choke  the  liver  out  of  the  miscreant," 
said  Volrees,  tightening  his  hold  in  the  Negro's 
collar  as  if  in  practice. 

"I  am  not  the  man,"  gaid  the  Negro,  with  grow- 
ing determination  in  his  voice.  Volrees  was  thus 
recalled  to  himself  and  resumed  his  restless 
tramping. 

"No,  you  are  not  the  man.  You  are  only  a 

nigger." 

Grasping  his  hat,  Volrees  strode  rapidly  out  of 
the  room.  At  the  door  he  bawled  back, 

"You  will  get  your  reward." 


BACK  IN  ALMAVILLE.  223 

The  Negro  followed  Volrees  at  a  distance  and 
noted  that  he  went  to  the  office  of  an  exceedingly 
shrewd  detective. 

In  the  course  of  a  few  days  the  city  of 
Almaville  was  shocked  with  the  news  that  a 
Mrs.  Johnson,  wife  of  a  leading  Mississippi 
planter  had  been  arrested  and  brought  to  Al- 
maville on  a  charge  of  bigamy.  The  prosecutor 
in  the  case  was  the  Hon.  H.  G..  Volrees,  who 
claimed  that  the  alleged  Mrs.  Johnson  was  none 
other  than  Eunice  Seabright,  who  had  married 
him.  Mrs.  Johnson  denied  being  the  former  Miss 
Seabright,  and  employed  able  counsel  to  conduct 
her  defense. 

The  stir  in  the  highest  social  circles  of  Alma- 
\ille 'was  indeed  great,  and  for  days  very  little 
was  talked  of  save  the  forthcoming  Volrees- John- 
son bigamy  trial. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 


A  Great  Day  in  Court. 

ONG  BEFORE  the  hour  set  for  the 
trial  of  the  alleged  Eunice  Volrees 
on  the  charge  of  bigamy  the  court 
house  yard  and  the  corridors  were  full 
of  people,  but,  strange  to  say,  the  court  room  in 
which  the  trial  was  to  take  place,  though  open, 
was  not  occupied.  The  crowds  thus  far  were 
composed  of  Negroes  and  white  people  in  the  mid- 
dle walks  of  life,  who  looked  upon  the  forthcom- 
ing trial  as  a  'big  folks' '  affair  and,  as  if  by  agree- 
ment, the  court  room  was  spared  for  the  occu- 
pancy of  the  elite.  As  the  hour  for  the  trial  drew 
near  the  carriages  and  automobiles  of  the  upper 
classes  began  to  arrive.  Each  arrival  would  come 
in  for  a  share  of  the  attention  of  the  middle 
classes  and  the  distinguishing  feature  of  each 
personage  was  told  in  whispers  from  one  to  an- 
other. 

When  the  carriage  of  the  Hon.  H.  G.  Volrees 
rolled  up  to  the  court  house  gate  silence  fell  upon 
the  multitude  -and  those  on  the  walk  leading  to 
the  court  house  door  fell  back  and  let  him  pass. 

His  face  wore  a  solemn,  determined  look  and  the 

(224) 


A  GREAT  DAY    IN  COURT.  225 

common  verdict  was,  "No  mercy  there.     A  fight 
to  a  finish." 

The  court  room  was  now  fairly  well  filled  with 
Almaville  notables,  and  the  plain  people  now 
crowded  in  to  get  seats  as  best  they  could  or  to 
occupy  standing  room.  Almost  the  last  carriage 
to  arrive  was  that  containing  Eunice.  The  cur- 
tains to  the  carriage  were  drawn  so  that  no  one  in 
it  could  be  seen  until  the  door  was  opened.  Eunice 
and  her  lawyers  stepped  out  and  quickly  closed 
the  door  behind  them.  Contrary  to  the  expecta- 
tions of  many,  she  wore  no  veil  and  each  person  in 
the  great  throng  was  highly  gratified  at  an  oppor- 
tunity to  scrutinize  her  features  thoroughly.  A 
way  was  made  for  her  through  the  great  throng 
and  she  walked  to  the  prisoner's  seat  holding  to 
the  arm  of  her  lawyer. 

The  case  was  called,  a  jury  secured,  and  the  ex- 
amination of  witnesses  entered  into.  The  first 
witness  on  the  part  of  the  State  was  the  Hon.  H. 
G.  Volrees  himself.  As  he  took  the  witness  chair 
a  bustle  was  heard  in  the  room.  The  people  in  the 
aisle  were  trying  to  squeeze  themselves  together 
more  tightly  to  allow  a  man  to  pass  who  was  lead- 
ing a  little  six-year-old  boy,  who  had  just  been 
taken  from  the  carriage  which  had  brought  Eu- 
nice to  the  trial.  "Make  room,  please.  I  am 
taking  her  son  to  her,"  the  man  would  say,  and 
the  crowd  would  fall  away  as  best  it  could. 

The  Hon.  H.  G.  Volrees  had  opened  his  mo,uth 
to  begin  his  testimony  when  he  noticed  that  his 


226  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

attorney,  the  opposing  counsel,  the  judge  and  the 
officers  of  the  court  had  turned  their  eyes  toward 
the  prisoner's  seat.  As  nobody  seemed  to  be  lis- 
tening to  him  he  halted  in  the  midst  of  his  first 
sentence  and  turned  to  see  what  was  attracting 
the  attention  of  the  others.  As  he  looked,  a  pe- 
culiar sensation  passed  over  him.  Perspiration 
broke  out  in  beads  and  his  veins  stood  out  like 
whip  cords.  He  clutched  his  chair  tightly  and 
cleared  his  throat. 

There  sat  beside  Eunice  her  child,  having  all  of 
Mr.  Volrees'  features.  There  were  his  dark  chest- 
nut hair,  his  large  dark  eyes,  his  nose,  his  lips, 
his  poise  and  a  dark  brown  stain  beneath  the  left 
ear  which  had  been  a  recurrence  in  the  Volrees 
family  for  generations.  The  public  was  mysti- 
fied as  it  was  commonly  understood  that  the 
marital  relations  had  extended  no  farther  than 
the  marriage  ceremony.  The  presence  of  this 
child  looked  therefore  to  be  an  impeachment  of 
the  integrity  of  Mr.  Volrees  and  of  Eunice.  The 
wonder  was  as  to  why  nothing  about  the  child 
had  been  mentioned  before.  Mr.  Volrees  sat  in 
his  chair,  his  eyes  fixed  on  the  boy. 

The  lawyer  at  length  resumed  the  examination 
of  Mr.  Volrees,  but  the  latter  made  a  sorry  wit- 
ness. It  was  evident  that  the  coming  in  of  this 
child  had  thoroughly  upset  him  in  some  way.  He 
was  mystified,  and  his  mind,  grappling  with  the 
problem  of  his  likeness  sitting  there  before  him, 
could  not  address  itself  to  the  functions  of  a  wit' 


A  GREAT  DAY  IN  COURT.  227 

ness  in  the  case  at  issue.     He  was  finally  excused 
from  the  witness  chair. 

The  other  witnesses,  who,  out  of  sympathy  for 
H.  G.  Volrees  had  come  to  identify  Eunice  as  his 
bride,  seeing  his  collapse,  did  not  feel  inclined 
to  take  the  prosecution  of  the  case  upon  them- 
selves and  their  testimony  did  not  have  the  posi- 
tiveness  necessary  to  carry  conviction.  It  was 
very  evident  that  the  state  had  not  made  out  a 
case  and  an  acquittal  seemed  assured. 

The  Negro  porter  was  in  the  court  room  eager- 
ly watching  the  progress  of  the  trial,  knowing 
that  the  obtaining  of  his  reward  hinged  upon  the 
outcome  of  the  case.  He  saw  the  trend  of  affairs 
and  felt  that  something  had  to  be  done  to  stem 
the  tide.  He  saw  Tiara  sitting  in  the  court  room, 
and  said  to  the  prosecuting  attorney  in  a  whisper, 
"Yonder  is  a  colored  girl  who  knows  her  thor- 
oughly and  can  tell  all  about  her." 

To  her  great  surprise  Tiara  was  called  as  a  wit- 
ness. She  was  a  striking,  beautiful  figure,  as  she 
stood  to  take  the  oath  that  she  would  tell  the 
truth,  the  whole  truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth. 

"Mr.  Judge,"  said  Tiara,  in  a  sweet,  sad  voice, 
"can  it  go  on  record  that  I  am  not  a  volunteer 
witness  in  this  case?" 

The  judge  looked  a  little  puzzled  and  Tiara 
said,  "At  any  rate,  judge,  if  in  after  time  it  be 
said  that  I  did  not  on  this  occasion  stand  up  for 
those  connected  with  me  by  ties  of  blood,  T  want 


228  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

it  understood  that  I  did  not  seek  this  chair — did 
not  know  that  I  was  to  be  called;  but  since  I  am 
here,  I  shall  fulfil  my  oath  and  tell  the  truth,  the 
whole  truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth." 

Tiara  now  took  her  seat  in  the  witness  chair. 

Eunice  leaned  forward  and  gazed  at  Tiara,  her 
thin  beautiful  lips  quivering,  her  eyes  trying  to 
read  the  intent  of  Tiara's  soul. 

Tiara  looked  at  the  recording  clerk  and  ap- 
peared to  address  her  testimony  -to  him.  Now 
that  she  was  forced  to  speak  she  desired  the 
whole  truth  to  come  out.  Her  poor  tired  soul  now 
clutched  at  proffered  surcease  through  the  unbur- 
dening of  itself.  She  began : 

"In  revolutionary  times  one  of  your  most  illus- 
trious men,  whose  fame  has  found  lodgment  in  all 
quarters  of  the  globe,  was  clandestinely  married 
to  a  Negro  woman.  My  mother  was  a  direct  de- 
scendant of  this  man.  My  mother's  ancestors, 
descendants  of  this  man,  made  a  practice  of  inter- 
marrying with  mulattoes,  until  in  her  case  all 
trace  of  Negro  blood,  so  far  as  personal  appear- 
ance was  concerned,  had  disappeared.  She  mar- 
ried my  father,  he  thinking  that  she  was  wholly 
white,  and  she  thinking  the  same  of  him.  Two 
children,  a  boy  and  a  girl,  having  all  the  charac- 
teristics of  whites,  were  born  to  them.  Then  I 
was  born  and  my  complexion  showed  plainly  the 
traces  of  Negro  blood.  The  community  in 
which  we  lived,  Shirleyville,  Indiana,  in  a  quiet 
way,  was  much  disturbed  over  the  Negro  blood 


A  GREAT  DAY  IN  COURT.  229 

manifested  in  me,  and  my  mother's  good  name 
was  imperilled. 

"My  mother  confessed  to  my  father  the  fact 
that  she  was  a  descendant  of  Negroes  and  he 
made  a  like  confession  to  my  mother  as  to  his  an- 
cestry. When  Shirleyville  found  out  that  my  par- 
ents had  Negro  blood  in  their  veins,  I  was  re- 
garded as  a  'reversion  to  type/  and  the  storm 
blew  over.  My  father  became  Mayor  of  the  town, 
and  great  ambitions  began  to  form  in  my  moth- 
er's heart. 

"A  notable  social  event  was  to  take  place  at  In- 
dianapolis and  my  mother  aspired  to  be  a  guest. 
She  met  with  a  rebuff  because  she  had  Negro  blood 
in  her  veins.  This  rebuff  corrupted  my  mother's 
\vhole  nature,  and  hardened  her  heart.  She  had 
my  father  to  resign  as  Mayor.  Our  home  was 
burned  and  we  were  all  supposed  to  have  perished 
in  the  flames.  This  was  my  mother's  way  of  hav- 
ing us  born  into  the  world  again. 

"My  mother,  father  and  the  other  two  children 
began  life  over  as  whites,  and  I  began  it  over  as 
a  lone  Negro  girl  without  family  connection,  and 
we  all  had  this  second  start  in  life  here  in  your 
city. 

"Most  all  people  in  America  have  theories  as  to 
the  best  solution  of  the  race  problem,  but  my 
mother  fancied  that  she  had  the  one  solution. 
She  felt  that  the  mixed  bloods  who  could  pass  for 
whites  ought  to  organize  and  cultivate  unswerv- 


230  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

ing  devotion  to  the  Negro  race.  According  to  her 
plan  the  mixed  bloods  thus  taught  should  be  sent 
into  the  life  of  the  white  people  to  work  quietly 
year  after  year  to  break  down  the  Southern  white 
man's  idea  of  the  Negro's  rights.  She  felt  that 
the  mixed  bloods  should  lay  hold  of  every  center 
of  power  that  could  be  reached.  She  set  for  her- 
self the  task  of  controlling  the  pulpit,  the  social 
circle  and  the  politics  of  Almaville  and  eventually 
of  the  whole  South  and  the  nation.  0  she  had 
grand,  wild  dreams !  If  she  had  succeeded  in  her 
efforts  to  utilize  members  of  her  own  family,  she 
had  planned  to  organize  the  mixed  bloods  of  the 
nation  and  effect  an  organization  composed  of 
cultured  men  and  women  that  could  readily  pass 
for  white,  who  were  to  shake  the  Southern  system 
to  its  very  foundation.  With  this  general  end  in 
view,  she  had  her  son  trained  for  the  ministry. 
This  son  became  an  eloquent  preacher.  My 
mother  through  a  forged  recommendation,  which, 
however,  the  son  did  not  know  to  be  forged,  had 
him  chosen  as  pastor  of  a  leading  church  in  this 
city. 

"My  mother  had  a  strange  power  over  most 
people  and  a  peculiar  power  over  my  brother.  He 
did  not  at  all  relish  his  peculiar  situation,  but  my 
mother  insisted  that  he  was  but  obeying  the 
scriptural  injunction  to  preach  the  gospel  to 
every  creature.  The  minister  in  question  was 
none  other  than  the  universally  esteemed  Rev. 
Percy  G.  Marshall,  who  now  rests  in  a  highly 


A  GREAT  DAY  IN  COURT.  231 

honored  grave  in  your  most  exclusive  cemetery, 
from  which  Negroes  are  barred  as  visitors." 

There  was  a  marked  sensation  in  the  court 
room  at  this  announcement  concerning  the  racial 
affinity  of  the  Rev.  Percy  G.  Marshall. 

"I  visited  my  brother  clandestinely;  often  he 
and  I  sorrowed  together.  On  the  night  of  the  mur- 
der, which  you  all  remember,  and  preceding  that 
sad  event,  closely  veiled  I  visited  him  at  his  study. 
When  we  were  through  talking  I  arose  to  go  and 
opened  the  door.  'Kiss  your  brother.  We  may 
not  meet  again/  said  he  sadly.  Neglecting  to  close 
the  door  I  stepped  up  to  him  and  kissed  him. 
When  I  turned  to  go  out  I  saw  that  Gus  Martin, 
whom  Leroy  Crutcher,  as  I  afterwards  found  out, 
had  set  to  watching  me,  had  seen  us  kiss  each 
other.  I  hurried  on  home  embarrassed  that  I 
could  not  explain  the  situation  to  him.  When  on 
the  next  day  I  read  of  my  brother's  death,  I  im- 
mediately guessed  all.  That  is  how  I  had  the  key 
to  bringing  Gus  Martin  to  terms.  When  he  found 
out  his  awful  mistake  he  was  willing  to  surrender. 

"So  resulted  my  mother's  plans  for  the  mastery 
of  your  Southern  pulpit." 

Turning  to  Eunice,  she  said,  "There  is  her 
daughter.  Through  her  my  mother  hoped  to  lay 
hold  on  the  political  power  of  the  state.  But  that 
girl  loved  a  Negro,  the  son  of  the  prosecutor,  the 
Hon.  H.  G.  Volrees  [sensation  in  the  court]. 

"After  leaving  her  husband,  Eunice  came  to 
live  with  me.  Earl  Bluefield,  who  is  Mr,  Volrees' 


232  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

son  [decided  sensation]  was  wounded  in  a  scuffle 
that  was  not  so  much  to  his  credit,  and  he  was 
brought  to  my  house  to  recover.  Eunice  waited 
on  him.  They  fell  in  love,  left  my  home  and  mar- 
ried. This  explains  how  that  boy  favors  the  Hon. 
Mr.  Volrees.  It  is  his  grandson." 

Tiara  now  stood  up  and  said,  "Mr.  Judge,  it 
may  not  be  regular,  but  permit  me  to  say  a  few 
words." 

The  whole  court  seemed  under  a  spell  and  no- 
body  stirred  as  Tiara  spoke. 

"My  mother  is  dead  and  paid  dearly  for  her  un- 
natural course.  But  do  not  judge  her  too  harsh- 
ly. You  people  who  are  white  do  not  know  what 
an  awful  burden  it  is  to  be  black  in  these  days 
of  the  world.  If  some  break  down  beneath  the 
awful  load  of  caste  which  you  thrust  upon  them, 
mingle  pity  with  your  blame." 

Tiara  paused  an  instant  and  then  resumed : 

"One  word  to  you  all.  I  am  aware  of  the  fact 
that  the  construction  of  a  social  fabric,  such  as 
your  Anglo-Saxondom,  has  been  one  of  the  mar- 
velous works  of  nature,  and  I  realize  that  the 
maintenance  of  its  efficiency  for  the  stupendous 
world  duties  that  lie  before  it  demand  that  you 
have  strict  regard  to  the  physical,  mental  and 
moral  characteristics  that  go  to  constitute  your 
aggregation.  But  I  warn  you  to  beware  of  the 
dehumanizing  influence  of  caste.  It  will  cause 
your  great  race  to  be  warped,  to  be  narrow,  Ora- 
tory will  decay  in  your  midst;  poetry  will  disap- 


A  GREAT  DAY  IN  COURT.  233 

pear  or  dwell  in  mediocrity,  taking  on  a  mocking 
sound  and  a  metallic  ring;  art  will  become  formal, 
lacking  in  spirit;  huge  soulless  machines  will 
grow  up  that  will  crush  the  life  out  of  humanity; 
conditions  will  become  fixed  and  there  will  be  no 
way  for  those  who  are  down  to  rise.  Hope  will 
depart  from  the  bosoms  of  the  masses.  You  wi]l 
be  a  great  but  a  soulless  race.  This  will  come 
upon  you  when  your  heart  is  cankered  with  caste. 
You  will  devour  the  Negro  to-day,  the  humbler 
white  to-morrow,  and  you  who  remain  will 
then  turn  upon  yourselves." 

Tiara  paused  and  glanced  around  the  court 
room  as  if  to  see  how  much  sympathy  she  could 
read  in  the  countenances  of  her  Jiearers.  The  rapt 
attention,  the*  kindly  look  in  their  eyes  gave  her 
courage  to  take  up  a  question  which  the  situation 
in  the  South  made  exceedingly  delicate,  when 
one's  audience  was  composed  of  Southern  white 
people. 

"One  thing,  Mr.  Judge,  wells  up  in  me  at  this 
time,  and  I  suppose  I  will  have  to  say  it,  unless 
you  stop  me,"  said  Tiara,  in  the  tone  of  one  ask- 
ing a  question. 

The  judge  made  no  reply  and  Tiara  interpreted 
his  silence  to  mean  that  she  was  permitted  to  pro- 
ceed. 

Said  she:  "You  white  people  have  seen  fit  to 
make  the  Negro  a  stranger  to  your  social  life  and 
you  further  decree  that  he  shall  ever  be  thus. 
You  know  that  this  weakens  his  position  in  the 


234  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

governmental  fabric.  The  fact  that  he  is  thus 
excluded  puts  a  perennial  question  mark  after 
him.  Furthermore  the  social  influence  is  a  tre- 
mendous force  in  the  affairs  of  men,  as  all  his- 
tory teaches.  To  all  that  goes  to  constitute  this 
powerful  factor  in  your  life  as  a  people,  you 
have  seen  fit  to  pronounce  the  Negro  a  stranger. 
The  pride  of  the  Negro  race  has  risen  to  the  oc- 
casion and  there  is  a  thorough  sentiment  in  that 
race  in  favor  of  racial  integrity. 

"So,  by  your  decree  and  the  cordial  acceptance 
thereof  by  the  Negro,  he  is  to  be  a  stranger  to 
your  social  system.  That  is  settled.  The  very 
fact  that  the  Negro  occupies  an  inherently  weak 
position  in  your  communal  life  makes  it  incum- 
bent upon  you  to  provide  safeguards  for  him. 

"Instead,  therefore,  of  the  Negro's  absence 
from  the  social  circle  being  a  warrant  for  his  ex- 
clusion from  political  functions,  it  is  an  argument 
in  favor  of  granting  full  political  opportunity  to 
him.  When  a  man  loses  one  eye,  nature  strength- 
ens the  other  for  its  added  responsibility.  Just  so, 
logically,  it  seems  absurd  to  hold  that  the  Negro 
should  suffer  the  loss  of  a  second  power  because 
he  is  shut  out  from  the  use  of  a  first. 

"Your  Bible  says:  'And  if  a  stranger  sojourn 
with  thee  in  your  land,  ye  shall  not  vex  him." 
White  friends  of  the  South !  Let  me  beseech  you 
to  vex  not  this  social  stranger  within  your  bor- 
ders ;  the  stranger  who  invades  your  swamps  and 
drains  them  into  his  system  for  your  comfort; 


A  GREAT  DAY  IN  COURT.  235 

who.creeps  through  the  slime  of  your  sewers :  who 
wrestles  with  the  heat  in  your  ditches  and  fields; 
who  has  borne  your  onerous  burdens  and  cheered 
you  with  his  song  as  he  toiled;  who  has  never 
heard  the  war  whoop  but  that  he  has  prepared 
for  battle ;  whose  one  hope  is  to  be  allowed  to  live 
in  peace  by  your  side  and  develop  his  powers  and 
those  of  his  children  that  they  may  be  factors  in 
making  of  this  land,  the  greatest  in  goodness  in 
all  this  world.  Don't  circumscribe  the  able,  no- 
ble souls  among  the  Negroes.  Give  them  the 
world  as  a  playground  for  their  talents  and  let 
Negro  men  dream  of  stars  as  do  your  men.  They 
need  that  as  much  as  you  do.  As  for  me,  I  shall 
leave  your  land." 

Turning  to  Eunice,  Tiara  stretched  forth  her 
hands,  appealingly  and  said,  "Sister,  come  let  us 
leave  this  country!  Come." 

"Ha!  ha!"  laughed  Eunice,  with  almost  mani- 
acal intensity,  as  she  waved  her  hand  in  disdain 
at  Tiara,  who  now  slowly  left  the  witness  stand. 

All  eyes  were  now  turned  toward  Eunice,  who 
had  arisen  and  stood  trying  to  drive  away  the 
passions  of  rage  that  seemed  to  clutch  her  vocal 
cords  so  that  she  could  not  speak.  At  last  get- 
ting sufficient  strength  to  begin,  she  said : 

"Honorable  Judge  and  you  jurymen:  I  de- 
clare to  you  all  to-day  that  I  am  a  white  woman. 
My  blood  is  the  blood  of  the  whites,  my  instincts, 
my  feelings,  my  culture,  my  spirit,  my  all  is  cast 
in  the  same  mould  as  yours.  That  woman  who 

16 


236  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

talked  to  you  a  few  moments  ago  is  a  Negro. 
Don't  honor  her  word  above  mine,  the  word  of  a 
white  woman.  I  invoke  your  law  of  caste.  Look 
at  me !  Look  at  my  boy !  In  what  respect  do  we 
.differ  from  you?" 

She, paused  and  drawing  her  small  frame  to 
its  full  height,  with  her  hands  outstretched  across 
the  railing,  with  hot  scalding  tears  coursing  down 
her  cheeks,  she  said  in  tremulous  tones : 

"And  now,  gentlemen,  I  came  here  hoping  to  be 
acquitted,  but  in  view  of  the  statements  made  I 
want  no  acquittal.  Your  law  prescribes,  so  I  am 
told,  that  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  a 
marriage  between  whites  and  Negroes.  To 
acquit  me  will  be  to  say  that  I  am  a 
Negro  woman  and  could  not  have  married 
a  white  man.  I  implore  you  to  convict  me! 
Send  me  to  prison !  Let  me  wear  a  felon's  garb ! 
Let  my  son  know  that  his  mother  is  a  convict, 
but  in  the  name  of  heaven  I  ask  you,  send  not 
my  child  and  me  into  Negro  life.  Send  us 
not  to  a  race  cursed  with  petty  jealousies, 
the  burden  bearers  of  the  world.  My  God!  the 
thought  of  being  called  a  Negro  is  awful,  awful!" 

Eunice's  words  were  coming  fast  and  she  was 
now  all  but  out  of  breath.  After  an  instant's 
pause,  she  began : 

"One  word  more.  For  argument's  -sake,  grant 
that  I  have  some  Negro  blood  in  me.  You  al- 
ready make  a  mistake  in  making  a  gift  of  your 
blood  to  the  African.  Remember  what  your 


A  GREAT  DAY  IN  COURT.  237 

blood  has  done.  It  hammered  out  on  fields  of 
blood  the  Magna  Charta;  it  took  the  head  of 
Charles  I. ;  it  shattered  the  sceptre  of  George  III. ; 
it  now  circles  the  globe  in  an  iron  grasp.  Think 
you  not  that  this  Anglo-Saxon  blood  loses  its 
virility  because  of  mixture  with  Negro  blood. 
Ah!  remember  Frederick  Doug1  ass,  he  who  as 
much  as  any  other  mortal  brought  armies  to  your 
doors  that  sacked  your  home.  I  plead  with  you, 
even  if  you  accept  that  girl's  malicious  slanders 
as  being  true,  not  to  send  your  blood  back  to  join 
forces  with  the  Negro  blood." 

Eunice  threw  an  arm  around  her  boy,  who  had 
arisen  and  was  clutching  her  skirts.  She  parted 
her  lips  as  if  to  speak  farther,  then  settled  back 
in  her  seat  and  closed  her  pretty  blue  eyes.  Her 
tangled  locks  fell  over  her  forehead  and  the  audi- 
ence looked  in  pity  at  the  tired  pretty  girl. 

Eunice's  attorneys  waived  their  rights  to  speak 
and  the  attorney  for  the  prosecution  stated  that 
he,  too,  would  now  submit  the  case  without  ar- 
gument. 

"Without  further  formality  the  jury  will  take 
this  case  under  advisement.  You  need  no  charge 
from  me.  You  are  all  Anglo-Saxons,"  said  the 
judge  solemnly  in  a  low  tone  of  voice. 

The  jury  filed  into  the  jury  room  and  began  its 
deliberations.  A  tall,  white  haired  man,  fore- 
man of  the  jury,  arose  and  spoke  as  follows : 

"Gentlemen :  We  have  a  sad  case  before  us  to- 
day. That  girl  has  the  white  person's  feelings 


238  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

and  it  seems  cruel  to  crush  her  and  drive  her 
from  those  for  whom  she  has  the  most  affinity  to 
those  whom  she  is  least  like.  Then,  I  pity  the 
boy.  He  carries  in  his  veins  some  of  our  proud- 
est blood,  and  it  seems  awful  to  cast  away  our 
own.  But  we  must  stand  by  our  rule.  One  drop 
of  Negro  blood  makes  its  possessor  a  Negro. 

"Our  great  race  stands  in  juxtaposition  with 
overwhelming  millions  of  darker  people  through- 
out the  earth,  and  we  must  cling  to  the  caste  idea 
if  we  would  prevent  a  lapse  that  would  taint  our 
blood  and  eventually  undermine  our  greatness.  It 
is  hard,  but  it  is  civilization.  We  cannot  find 
this  girl  guilty.  It  would  be  declaring  that  mar- 
riage between  a  white  man  and  a  Negro  woman 
is  a  possibility/' 

A  vote  was  taken  and  the  jury  returned  to  the 
court  room  to  render  the  verdict.  "The  prisoner 
at  the  bar  will  stand  up,"  said  the  judge.  Eunice 
stood  up  and  her  little  boy  stood  up  as  well. 
There  was  the  element  of  pathos  in  the  standing 
up  of  that  little  boy,  for  the  audience  knew  that 
his  destiny  was  involved  in  the  case. 

"Has  the  jury  reached  a  verdict?"  asked  the 
judge. 

"We  have,"  replied  the  foreman, 

"Please  announce  it." 

The  audience  held  its  breath  in  painful  sus^ 
pense.  Eunice  directed  her  burning  gaze  to  the 
lips  of  the  foreman,  that  she  might,  if  possible. 


A  GREAT  DAY  IN  COURT.  239 

catch  his  fateful  words  even  before  they  were  ful- 
ly formed. 

"We,  the  jury,  find  the  prisoner  not  guilty." 

"Murder!"  wildly  shrieked  Eunice.  "Doomed! 
Doomed!  They  call  us  Negroes,  my  son,  and 
everybody  knows  what  that  means!"  Her  tones 
of  despair  moved  every  hearer. 

The  judge  quietly  shed  a  few  tears  and  many 
another  person  in  the  audience  wept.  The  crowd 
filed  out,  leaving  Eunice  clasping  her  boy  to  her 
bosom,  mother  and  son  mingling  their  tears 
together.  Tiara  lingered  in  the  corridor  to  greet 
Eunice  when  the  latter  should  come  out  of  the 
room.  She  had  thought  to  speak  to  her  on  this 
wise: 

"Eunice,  we  have  each  other  left.  Let  us  be 
sisters  as  we  were  in  the  days  of  our  childhood." 

But  when  Tiara  confronted  Eunice,  the  latter 
looked  at  her  scornfully  and  passed  on.  When 
Tiara  somewhat  timidly  caught  hold  of  her  dress 
as  if  to  detain  her,  Eunice  spat  in  her  face  and 
tore  herself  loose. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 


Eunice!  Eunice! 

ITH  SLOW,  uncertain  step,  a  wild 
haunted  look  in  her  eye,  Eunice,  clutch- 
ing her  little  boy's  hand  until  it  pained 
him,  moved  down  the  corridor  toward 
the  door  leading  out  of  the  court  house.  She 
was  about  to  face  the  world  in  the  South  as 
a  member  of  the  Negro  race,  and  the  very 
thought  thereof  spread  riot  within  her  soul.  The 
nearer  she  drew  to  the  door  the  greater  was  the 
anguish  of  her  spirit.  More  than  once  she  turned 
and  retraced  her  steps  in  the  corridor,  trying  to 
muster  the  courage  to  face  the  outer  world  in  her 
new  racial  alignment.  At  last  she  stood  near  the 
door,  her  whole  frame  trembling  as  a  result  of  the 
sweeping  over  her  spirit  of  storm  after  storm  of 
emotions.  Her  little  boy,  unable  to  grasp  the  im- 
port of  his  mother's  behavior  was  eagerly  scan- 
ning her  face  and  weeping  silently  in  instinctive 
sympathy. 

With  a  sudden  burst  of  courage  Eunice  stepped 
out  of  the  court  house  door  and  a  young  white 
man,  who  had  been  awaiting  her,  stepped  up  to 

speak  to  her.     His  hat  was  tilted  back  on  his  head, 

(240) 


EUNICE!    EUNICE!  241 

a  lighted  cigar  was  in  his  mouth,  and  his  hands 
were  thrust  deep  in  his  trousers  pockets. 

Eunice  looked  up  at  him,  saw  the  wicked  leer 
in  his  eyes,  and  recoiled. 

"Don't  be  scared,  Eunice.  I  stayed  here  to  tell 
you  that  the  hackman  who  brought  you  here  got 
a  chance  to  make  a  little  extra  by  taking  some 
white  ladies  home  and  said  for  you  to  stay  here 
until  he  got  back.  He  wont  be  gone  but  a  few 
minutes/' 

The  suggestive  look,  the  patronizing  tone,  the 
failure  to  use  "Mrs.,"  on  the  part  of  the  man  that 
addressed  her,  and  the  action  of  the  hackman  in 
leaving  her  to  take  some  white  woman  home, 
served  as  a  tonic  to  brace  up  the  quailing  spirit  of 
Eunice. 

Her  first  brush  with  the  world  as  a  member  of 
the  Negro  race  had  aroused  her  fighting  spirit. 

"How  dare  you  address  me  in  that  manner,  you 
boorish  wretch!"  exclaimed  Eunice,  her  small 
frame  shaking  with  indignation. 

The  young  man  seemed  rather  to  enjoy  Eunice's 
rage  and  coolly  replied,  "Well,  Eunice,  you  know, 
Eunice,  that  you  are  a  Negress  now  and  there  are 
no  misses  and  mistresses  in  that  race.  If  you 
were  a  little  older  I  would  call  you  'aunty ;'  if  you 
were  a  little  older  still  I  would  call  you  'mammy ;' 
if  very  old,  'grandma  Eunice/  But  as  it  is,  I 
have  to  call  you  plain  'Eunice/  My  race 
would  disrespect  me  if  I  didn't  follow  the  rule, 
vou  know." 


242  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

"You  wretched  cur!  You  yap?"  screamed 
Eunice. 

"As  this  is  your  first  day  in  the  'nigger'  race  I 
won't  bother  you  for  calling  me  out  of  my  name. 
But  let  me  give  you  a  piece  of  advice.  We  white 
folks  like  a  'nigger'  in  his  place  only,  and  you  find 
yours  quick.  And  remember  that  you  'nigger' 
women  don't  come  in  for  all  that  stepping  back 
which  we  do  for  white  women.  We  go  so  far  as 
to  burn  your  kind  down  here  sometimes.  As  for 
that  brat  there,  bring  him  up  as  a  'nigger'  and 
teach  him  his  place,  if  you  don't  want  him  to  see 
trouble."  So  saying  the  young  white  man  turned 
and  walked  away,  leaving  Eunice  enraged  and 
amazed  at  his  effrontery. 

The  refined  classes  among  the  whites  who 
would  not  under  any  circumstance  have  wantonly 
wounded  Eunice's  sensibilities,  had  nevertheless 
issued  the  decree  of  caste  and  the  grosser  ones 
among  them  were  to  execute  it,  and  Eunice  was 
tasting  the  gall  that  the  unrefined  pour  out  daily 
for  a  whole  race  to  drink. 

Typical  of  that  class  that  enjoyed  seeing  the 
Negroes  writhing  under  their  wounded  sensibil- 
ities, this  young  man  had  craved  the  honor  of 
being  the  first  to  make  Eunice  taste  the  bitterness 
of  her  new  lot  in  life. 

Eunice  and  her  son  now  proceeded  to  the  street 
car.  A  number  of  white  women  boarded  the  car 
just  in  front  of  her  and  the  conductor  politely 
helped  them  on.  When  her  time  came  to  step  up, 


EUNICE !      EUNICE !  243 

he  caught  hold  of  her  arm  to  assist  her.  When  a 
glance  at  her  face  told  him  who  she  was,  he  (hav- 
ing seen  her  picture  in  the  newspapers,  and 
learned  the  result  of  the  trial)  quickly  turned 
her  loose  so  that  she  fell  off  the  car,  badly  sprain- 
ing her  ankle. 

Eunice  did  not  understand  his  action  and 
looked  up  at  him  inquiringly.  The  contemptuous 
look  upon  his  face  explained  it  all.  With  her 
sprained  ankle  she  hobbled  on  the  car  and  took 
a  seat  near  the  rear  door.  A  number  of  half- 
grown  white  boys  were  on  the  rear  platform  and 
felt  inclined  to  contribute  their  share  of  discom- 
fort to  the  newly  discovered  Negro  woman.  They 
hummed  over  and  over  again  the  "rag  time"  song, 
"Coon,  coon,  coon,  I  wish  my  color  would  fade!" 

When  Eunice  and  her  son  arrived  at  her  hotel 
she  alighted  from  the  car  unaided,  and  painfully 
journeyed  to  her  room,  which  was  being  thor- 
oughly overhauled  by  an  employee. 

"Where—  —where is  my  room?"  asked 

Eunice,  haltingly,  fearing  that  she  had  somehow 
made  a  mistake. 

"You  haven't  any  in  this  hotel,"  was  the  grulf 
response. 

"But  I  have ;  I  am  in  the  wrong  room,  perhaps." 
said  Eunice. 

"No,  you  have  been  in  the  wrong  race.  You 
are  a  'nigger'  and  we  don't  run  a  'nigger'  hotel. 
Your  things  are  piled  up  in  the  alley,  and  you 


244  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

will  please  get  out  of  the  building  as  quickly  as 
you  can." 

Eunice's  mind  now  ran  back  to  the  occasion  of 
her  first  stay  in  that  hotel,  recalled  how  royally 
she  was  treated  then  and  contrasted  it  with  the 
treatment  she  was  now  receiving.  Stepping  to 
the  mirror  she  gazed  at  herself  saying: 

"What  leprosy,  what  loathsome  disease  has  be- 
fallen me  that  everybody  now  spurns  me.  One 
cruel  little  word — Negro — has  converted  fawn- 
ing into  frowning  and  a  paradise  into  hell." 

Taking  her  boy  by  the  hand  she  started  out  of 
the  building  as  hurriedly  as  her  sprained  ankle 
would  permit. 

"Back  doors  for  'niggers/  "  shouted  the  em- 
ployee, as  he  saw  that  Eunice  had  started  toward 
the  front  entrance. 

Rage  mounted  the  throne  in  Eunice's  heart 
and  she  turned  towards  her  tormentor.  She 
parted  her  lips  and  the  oaths  of  stern  men  were 
upon  the  eve  of  bursting  forth,  but  she  repressed 
them  and  was  soon  out  of  the  hotel.  The  railroad 
station  was  not  far  away  and  she  preferred  walk- 
ing to  submitting  to  the  indignities  that  might  at- 
tend riding  on  the  cars.  Appearing  at  the  rail- 
road ticket  office  she  applied  for  a  berth  in  a 
sleeper.  Her  face  was  known  there,  too,  and  she 
was  told  that  all  the  berths  were  taken.  A  white 
woman  going  on  the  same  train  was  the  next  to 
apply  for  a  berth  and  was  given  her  choice  of  a 


EUNICE!    EUNICE!  245 

number.  Eunice  noticed  the  discrimination  and 
returned  to  the  clerk. 

"You  must  have  been  mistaken  as  to  the  train  I 
am  to  travel  on,  for  the  lady  that  has  just  left  se- 
cured a  berth  on  that  train  after  I  had  failed," 
said  Eunice  pleadingly,  for  she  desired  the  se- 
clusion of  a  sleeping  car  for  her  mournful  jour- 
ney home. 

"You  belong  to  a  voteless  race  and  I  can't  give 
you  a  berth,"  said  the  ticket  agent. 

"What  has  voting  to  do  with  my  getting  a  suit- 
able place  to  ride  on  a  train?"  said  Eunice,  tears 
of  vexation  coming  into  her  eyes. 

"Everything,"  said  the  young  man  more  sym- 
pathetically. 

"You  see  it  is  this  way,"  he  continued.  "The 
Governor  of  this  state,  who  sprang  from  a 
class  of  whites,  who  never  had  much  love  for 
the  Negro,  happened  to  take  a  sleeper  that  was 
occupied  by  a  few  Negroes  who  did  not  conduct 
themselves  properly.  Though  the  great  body  of 
Negroes  who  were  able  and  disposed  to  occupy 
berths  were  genteel  and  well-behaved,  this  gov- 
ernor, to  properly  bolster  hi-s  dignity  resolved 
upon  a  course  that  would  work  discomfort  for 
thousands.  He  threatened  to  recommend  to  the 
legislature  that  a  law  be  passed  demanding  sep- 
arate sleeping  cars  for  the  two  races  unless  Ne- 
groes were  kept  out  of  sleepers.  We  lose  less  by 
keeping  Negroes  out  than  we  would  by  being 
compelled  to  operate  two  sets  of  cars.  If  you  peo- 


246  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

pie  had  voting  power  and  could  stand  by  us  we 
could  stand  by  you.  It  is  a  matter  of  business 
with  us." 

"You  are  discriminating  against  me  without 
the  warrant  of  law  and  are  subject  to  a  suit," 
said  Eunice. 

"The  case  will  be  tried  by  a  white  jury  and  a 
verdict  will  be  rendered  against  us.  We  will  be 
required  to  pay  the  cost  of  the  court  and  to  hand 
over  to  you.  one  cent!" 

Taking  her  little  boy  by  the  hand,  Eunice  slow- 
ly turned  and  walked  away  while  the  tears  rolled 
down  her  cheeks.  She  did  so  much  crave  the 
darkness  and  seclusion  of  a  berth,  where  she 
could  take  an  inventory  of  the  new  world  into 
which  she  had  come,  but  there  was  no  escape 
from  the  lighted  coach  occupied  by  Negroes.  Get- 
ting on  the  train  she  took  a  seat  in  the  section  of 
the  coach  set  apart  for  Negroes.  The  Negro 
porter  thinking  she  had  made  a  mistake  took  her 
into  a  coach  for  whites. 

"Take  that  woman  back.  She  is  no  white 
woman,"  bawled  out  one  of  the  passengers,  who 
had  in  his  hands  an  afternoon  paper  containing 
a  likeness  of  Eunice  and  an  account  of  the  trial. 

The  puzzled  porter  turned  to  Eunice  and  said, 
"Are  you  a — are  you  a —  He  was  afraid  to  ask 
the  woman  as  to  whether  she  was  a  Negro  fear- 
ing she  might  be  a  white  woman  and  would  have 
him  killed  for  the  insult;  and  he  was  equally 


EUNICE !      EUNICE !  247 

afraid  to  ask  her  as  to  whether  she  was  a  white 
woman,  fearing  that  if  she  was  white  she  would 
resent  a  question  that  seemed  to  imply  any  sort 
of  resemblance  to  a  Negro.  It  occurred  to  him 
to  say: 

"This  coach  is  for  whites  and  the  one  you  came 
out  of  is  for  Negroes." 

Saying  this  he  left  hurriedly,  leaving  her  to 
select  the  coach  in  which  she  was  to  ride.  Eunice 
groped  her  way  back  to  the  section  of  the  coach 
set  apart  for  Negroes. 

Earl  had  heard  by  means  of  the  long  dis- 
tance telephone  of  the  outcome  of  the  trial,  and 
desiring  that  the  first  meeting  with  Eunice  af- 
ter the  sad  experience  should  be  private,  he  had 
preferred  sending  to  the  railway  station  for  her, 
to  going  himself.  He  was  now  in  his  library  when 
Eunice  and  her  son  reached  the  house.  As 
Eunice  pushed  open  the  library  door  and  stood 
facing  her  husband  she  stretched  forth  her  hands 
and  said  in  tones  that  pierced  Earl's  heart : 

"Doomed!  Doomed!  Assigned  to  membership 
in  the  Negro  race !  Made  heir  to  all  the  contempt 
of  the  world.  Doomed!  Doomed!" 

Earl  stood  with  folded  arms  and  a  heart  whose 
emotions  cannot  be  portrayed,  and  looked  at  the 
picture  of  woe  before  him,  his  beautiful  wife 
frantic  and  despairing  and  his  little  son  already 
feeling  in  his  youthful  spirit  the  all  pervading 
g-loom  that  creeps  through  the  Negro  world. 


248  THE. HINDERED  HAND. 

"Be  not  dismayed,  Eunice,  dear!  I  am  not  at 
the  end  of  my  resources.  I  shall  yet  burst  a  bomb 
in  this  Southland,"  said  Earl. 

Eunice  rushed  to  Earl  clutched  his  arms  and 
looked  up  wildly  into  his  eyes.  "Earl,  dear  Earl ! 
Tell  me !  Tell  me  quickly  and  tell  the  truth !  Is 
there,  can  there  be  any  hope  for  the  Negro  here 
or  elsewhere  ?" 

Earl  did  not  answer  at  once.  He  looked  stead- 
ily into  her  eyes  and  realized  that  he  was  in  the 
immediate  presence  of  a  soul  about  to  make  a  final 
plunge  into  the  dark,  dark  abyss  of  despair.  It 
was  to  him  a  holy  presence  and  he  could  not  lie ! 

"Eunice,  dear,  there  is  hope.  Slowly,  but  sure- 
ly the  world  is  working  its  way  to  a  basis  of  jus- 
tice for  all,"  said  Earl. 

"My  boy!    Is  there  hope  for  him?" 

"The  hope  of  sublime  battling,  dear,"  said 
Earl. 

"Is  that  all  there  is  for  my  boy?  No  hope  of 
reward.  Only  battle!  battle!"  asked  Eunice. 

"Grant  me  a  favor,  Eunice.  I  know  what  that 
look  in  your  face  means.  I  see  that  you  are  think- 
ing of  leaving  me,  and  of  taking  my  boy  and  your 
boy  with  you.  You  are  planning  suicide,"  said 
Earl. 

"Ha!  ha!"  laughed  Eunice,  in  the  uncanny 
tones  of  madness.  "You  guess  well.  Come  with 
us,"  she  said,  casting  a  look  in  the  direction  of  a 
drawer  where  she  knew  the  pistol  to  be, 


EUNICE!    EUNICE!  249 

"Grant  me  this  favor,  Eunice.  Don't  die. 
Spare  my  boy.  Live  and  let  my  boy  live  a  little 
while  longer.  I  have  several  more  lines  of  attack. 
If  they  fail  then  we  can  all  go." 

Eunice  whirled  around  the  room  gayly  and  said 
with  childish  glee,  "You  will  then  die  with  us, 
will  you?  Ha!  ha!  ha!"  A  terrible  fear  stole 
over  Earl  as  he  watched  her  peculiar  behavior. 

"Live!  Ha!  ha!  ha!  'Nigger,'  'darkey,'  coon — 
live!  Yes,  I'll  live!  I'll  live!  Whee — poo — poo — 
wheep!"  screamed  Eunice,  now  dashing  wildly 
about  the  room.  She  had  gone  mad. 


At  the  earliest  moment  practicable  Earl  bore 
the  raving  Eunice  out  of  the  Southland,  carried 
her  to  a  sanitarium  in  a  northern  city.  Giving 
the  physician  in  charge  a  history  of  the  case  and 
allowing  him  time  to  study  it,  Earl  awaited  the 
verdict  as  to  Eunice's  chances  of  recovery. 

"Mr.  Bluefield,  to  be  absolutely  frank  with  you, 
I  am  compelled  to  say  that,  in  my  opinion,  your 
wife's  case  is  an  incurable  one.  The  one  specific 
cause  of  her  mental  breakdown  is  the  Southern 
situation  which  has  borne  tremendously  upon  her. 
That  whole  region  of  country  is  affected  by  a  sort 
of  sociological  hysteria  and  we  physicians  are  ex- 
pecting more  and  more  pathological  manifesta- 
tions as  a  result  of  the  strain  upon  the  people. 

"Only  one  thing  could  cure  your  wife  and  that 
is  the  reversal  of  the  conditions  that  have 


250  THE   HINDERED   HAND. 

wrought  upon  her  mind.  She  has  lucid  moments, 
but  whenever  her  mind  forcibly  recurs  to  the 
Southern  situation  she  again  plunges  into  the 
gulf  of  despair.  If  in  these  lucid  moments  yon 
could  place  before  her  a  ladder  of  hope,  I  am  of 
the  opinion  that  a  cure  would  be  effected.  That 
is  equivalent  to  saying,  I  fear,  that  the  case  is  in- 
curable, for  I  can  see  no  way  out  of  the  Southern 
tangle." 

Such  were  the  awful  words  addressed  to  Earl 
Bluefield  by  the  physician  in  charge  of  the  sani- 
tarium when  Earl  called  to  learn  of  him  his  opin- 
ion concerning  Eunice's  case. 

Earl  walked  forth  from  the  sanitarium  and 
journeyed  hurriedly  to  the  southern  border  of  the 
city.  When  the  houses  of  the  city  were  well  at 
his  back  and  he  had  an  unobstructed  view  to  the 
south,  he  paused  and,  holding  his  right  hand 
aloft,  he  said : 

"Hear,  0  spirit  world,  if  such  there  be,  that,  in 
the  days  to  come,  you  may  witness  how  faith- 
fully Earl  Bluefield,  Humanity's  Ishmaelite,  kept 
his  word.  Non-existent  was  I  until  the  whim  of  a 
Southern  white  man,  trampling  upon  the  alleged 
sacred  canons  of  his  race,  called  me  into  being 
and  endowed  me  with  the  spirit  of  his  kind.  In 
the  race  into  which  I  was  thrust,  I  sought  to 
manifest  my  martial  spirit,  but  met  with  no  ade- 
quate response  from  men  grooved  in  the  ways  of 
peace.  I  found  me  a  wife  with  spirit  akin  to 
mine,  and  like  myself  a  victim  of  the  bloods. 


EUNICE!    EUNICE!  251 

The  two  of  us  withdrew  from  the  active  affairs 
of  men,  and  from  our  own  heath  looked  out  upon 
the  land  of  our  birth,  in  the  very  which  we  had 
been  made  aliens.  And  now  we  have  been 
dragged  from  our  happy  seclusion  and  gibbeted. 

"And  thinkest  thou,  0  Southland,  that  the  last 
has  been  heard  of  me?  Ha!  Ha!  For  fear  that 
thou  mayest  deceive  thyself  thus,  hear  the  oath  of 
Earl  the  Ishmaelite: 

"By  the  wrenched  chords  of  the  heart  of  a  boy 
spurned  by  a  contemning  father;  by  the  double 
shame  of  a  mother  wickedly  wooed  and  despised 
in  the  one  breath;  by  the  patience  and  optimism 
of  the  blood  of  my  black  forbears ;  by  the  energy 
and  persistence  of  my  grant  of  blood  from  Eu- 
rope—by all  these  mighty  tokens,  I  make  oath 
that  this  nation  shall  rest  neither  day  nor  night 
until  this  shadow  is  lifted  from  my  soul.  And  I 
further  make  oath,  0  despisers  of  the  offerings  of 
my  higher  self,  that  I  shall  meet  your  every  fresh 
wound  with  face  the  more  uplifted  because  there- 
of, and  to  better  meet  all  that  you  have  to  hand 
out  to  me,  I  shall  keep  company  with  the  Spirit 
that  makes  nerve  food  of  disasters  and  ascension 
chariots  of  whirlwinds." 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 


Enthusiastic  John  Blue* 

N  A  ROOM  of  a  hotel  in  the  city  in 
which  the  sanitarium  having  charge  of 
Eunice  was  located,  Earl  Bluefield  sat 
upon  a  sofa,  his  hands,  with  the  fingers 
tightly  interlaced,  resting  between  his  knees,  his 
head  and  shoulders  bent  forward.  The  intense, 
haggard  look  upon  his  face  told  plainly  of  the 
painful"  meditation  in  which  he  was  engaged. 

Owing  to  Earl's  peculiar  status  in  the  world, 
Eunice,  beloved  as  a  wife,  was  far  more  to  him 
than  a  wife.  He  looked  upon  himself  as  a  sort  of 
exotic  in  the  non-resisting  Negro  race  and  consid- 
ered himself  a  special  object  of  scorn  on  the  part 
of  the  white  people  of  the  South,  who  seemed  to 
him  to  resent  his  near  approach  unto  them  in 
blood,  and  to  mistrust  his  kind  more  than  all 
other  elements  in  Negro  life.  In  the  absence, 
therefore,  of  a  perfect  bond  of  racial  sympathy 
anywhere,  Eunice  became  to  him  his  world  as 
well  as  his  wife,  and  no  more  horrible  suggestion 
could  be  made  than  that  he  should  go  through 
life  apart  from  her.  Here  indeed  had  been  a 
marriage — the  welding  of  two  into  one. 
(252) 


ENTHUSIASTIC   JOHN   BLUE0  253 

Earl  was  not  brooding  as  one  who  had  hopeless- 
ly lost  his  all,  but  was  plotting  as  one  who  would 
save  his  all.  The  task  oi?  the  knight  of  old  upon 
whom  was  the  burden  of  rescuing  some  lovely 
maiden  from  imprisonment  in  a  seemingly  im- 
pregnable fortress,  was  but  child's  play  compared 
to  the  task  before  Earl,  who  must  sc  ule  the  "walls 
of  the  castle  of  despair  and  batter  down  doors 
that  laughed  at  the  feebleness  of  steel "  if  he  would 
claim  Eunice  for  his  own  again.  He  was  face  to 
face  with  the  dreadful  fact  that  nothing  but  the 
solution  of  the  long  standing  race  problem  of 
America  could  release  to  him  the  one  so  dear  to 
his  heart,  so  essential  to  his  existence. 

As  Earl  sat  canvassing  the  terrible  plight  in 
which  he  found  himself,  his  mind  ran  the  whole 
gamut  of  panaceas  that  had  been  proposed  for  a 
solution. 

His  own  martial  scheme  of  his  earlier,  unmar- 
ried days  passed  in  review  before  his  mind,  but 
failed  to  appeal  to  him  as  it  did  in  the  dsys  of 
yore.  So  far  as  he  himself  was  concernei  he 
would  have  welcomed  a  death  in  a  glorious  cause 
as  an  honorable  release  from  the  ranks  of  the  ad- 
vocates of  universal  justice,  who,  to  his  impatient 
spirit  seemed  to  be  marking  time  in  the  face  of  an 
aggressive  foe.  But  death  for  himself  would  not 
rescue  Eunice! 

His  mind  recurred  to  the  impression  that 
seemed  to  prevail  in  some  quarters  that  the  solu- 


254  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

tion  of  the  problem  mainly  hinged  upon  giving  in- 
dustrial training  to  the  Negro  masses. 

"That,"  said  he  to  himself,  "will  solve  a  large 
part  of  the  Negro's  side  of  the  problem,  but  how 
great  an  army  of  carpenters  can  hammer  the 
spirit  of  repression  out  of  those  who  hold  that  the 
eternal  repression  of  the  Negro  is  the  nation's 
only  safeguard  ?  What  worker  in  iron  can  fashion 
a  key  that  will  open  the  door  to  that  world  of 
higher  activities,  the  world  of  moral  and  spiritual 
forces  which  alone  wooes  Eunice's  spirit  and 
mine  ?  What  welder  of  steel  can  beat  into  one  the 
discordant  soul  forces  of  willing  Negroes  and  un- 
willing whites,  the  really  pivotal  point  of  the 
problem?  Really  pressing  is  the  need  of  indus- 
trial training  for  our  people,  but  my  peculiar  case 
calls  for  something  that  must  come  from  Lincoln 
the  emancipator  rather  than  from  Lincoln  the 
rail-splitter." 

Earl  next  thought  of  Ensal's  proposed  cam- 
paign of  education  which  had  been  vigorously  car- 
ried on  by  Tiara  and  he  said:  "It  is  one  thing 
to  produce  a  Niagara  and  another  thing  to  har- 
ness it.  0  for  a  means  of  harnessing  all  the 
righteous  sentiment  in  America  in  favor  of  the 
ideals  of  the  Constitution."  Thus,  on  and  on 
Earl  soliloquized,  groping  for  the  light. 

He  stretched  out  upon  the  sofa  and  sought  to 
refresh  his  tired  brain  with  a  few  moments  of 
sleep,  but  sleep  refused  to  visit  him.  Suddenly 
he  leaped  from  the  sofa  and  said : 


ENTHUSIASTIC   JOHN   BLUE.  255 

"I  have  it!     I  have  it!     Eunice  shall  be  free." 

He  now  began  to  make  hurried  preparations 
for  a  trip  South.  While  he  is  thus  engaged  we 
shall  divulge  to  the  reader  the  process  of  reason- 
ing that  at  last  led  him  to  what  he  conceived  to  be 
daylight. 

"Two  things  must  be  done,"  argued  Earl  with- 
in himself.  "Repression  in  the  South  must  die 
and  men  with  broader  visions  in  that  section  must 
take  charge  of  affairs.  This  is  an  age  of  freedom 
and  an  age  of  local  self-government.  Freedom 
must  obtain  in  the  South,  and  largely  through 
some  agency  found  or  developed  therein.  The 
most  effective  way  of  killing  repression  is  to  make 
it  kill  itself  and  out  of  the  soil  nurtured  by  its 
carcass  will  spring  a  just  order  of  things. 

"I  will  lure  repression  to  its  death  and  then  find 
my  force  within  the  South  that  will  lead  the  South 
into  nobler  ways." 

Understanding  this  much  of  Earl's  new  plan 
we  are  now  prepared  to  follow  him  and  intelli- 
gently watch  developments. 

The  scene  now  shifts  from  the  North  to  the 
South. 


Fully  conscious  of  the  stupendous  character  of 
his  undertaking,  Earl  walked  slowly  up  the  walk 

leading  to  the  office  of  the  Governor  of  M , 

a  Southern  state.     He  was  steadying  himself  for 
the  coming  effort. 


256  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

When  shown  to  the  governor's  office  he  said : 

"This  is  the  governor  of  the  state  of  M ,  I 

believe." 

"They  say  that  such  is  the  case,"  responded  the 
governor,  smilingly. 

"I  am  just  from  the  North  and  am  making  a 
tour  of  the  South.  I  am  traveling  incognito  and 
would  like  to  be  known  to  you  as  John  Blue.  As 
I  shall  broach  only  matters  of  common  public  in- 
terest in  case  you  honor  me  with  an  interview,  I 
shall  be  pleased  to  have  you  excuse  me  from  mak- 
ing ,  myself  further  known  to  you  in  a  personal 
way,"  said  Earl,  with  great  affability. 

The  governor  was  captured  at  once  by  Earl's 
suave  manner  and  actually  fancied  that  some 
Northerner  of  exceeding  great  note  was  paying 
him  a  visit. 

"Well,  I  am  glad  to  see  you — glad  to  see  you. 
The  more  you  men  of  the  North  see  our  Southern 
'niggers7  the  more  you  will  sympathize  with  us," 
said  the  governor. 

"Do  you  think  that  either  we  Northerners  or 
you  Southerners  get  anything  like  an  adequate 
view  of  the  Negro,"  asked  Earl  Bluefield,  alias 
John  Blue. 

"Why  not?"  asked  the  governor. 

"Well,  you  Southern  people  don't  mix  with 
them  socially,  practically  never  enter  their  best 
homes,  and  would  be  amazed,  I  am  told,  if  you 
really  knew  of  the  high  order  of  their  develop- 
ment socially.  It  is  said  that  you  call  them  'nig- 


ENTHUSIASTIC   JOHN   BLUE.  257 

gers,'  that  your  children  speak  of  them  as  such, 
that  you  often  speak  harshly  of  them  in  your 
home  circles,  that  many  of  your  men  are  not  as 
refined  as  they  might  be  when  they  are  dealing 
with  Negro  women,  and  that  for  these  reasons 
the  better  grade  of  Negroes  are  leaving  your 
domestic  service,  so  that  your  observation  of  the 
Negro  is  more  and  more  centered  upon  the  type 
that  does  not  represent  the  race  at  its  best." 

"I  had  never  thought  of  that.  We  do  call  them 
'niggers.'  I  have  a  lot  of  trouble  in  keeping  a 
cook.  I  wonder  if  that  is  the  reason.  Well,  well, 
who  would  have  thought  that  there  was  anything 
about,  a  'nigger'  that  Southerners  would  have  to 
be  told  by  a  Northerner,"  remarked  the  governor, 
winding  up  with  a  loud  guffaw. 

"As  for  the  tourist  class  of  Northerners,"  re- 
sumed John  Blue,  "and  Northerners  residing  in 
the  South,  they  see  only  the  rougher  side  of  Ne- 
gro life,  much  as  do  you  Southerners.  The 
Northern  missionaries  whose  duties  place  them 
in  touch  with  the  best  and  \vorst  that  there  is  in 
Negro  life  have  the  real  rounded  view  of  the  sit- 
uation." 

The  governor's  affability  now  disappeared. 
Said  he: 

"Don't  praise  those  mawkish  missionaries  to 
me.  They  are  down  here  educating  the  heads  of 
'niggers.'  We  white  folks  have  got  enough  heads 
to  run  this  country." 


258  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

"Your  irritation,"  said  Earl,  "paves  the  way 
for  me  to  say  what  I  came  to  say.  We  Northern- 
ers are  tired  of  being  estranged  from  you  South- 
erners. We  are  becoming  a  world  power  and 
should  have  a  thoroughly  united  country.  Why 
don't  you  Southern  people  begin  a  campaign  of 
education  and  let  the  North  know  your  real  mind, 
so  that  we  won't  tread  on  your  corns  so  often,  to 
use  a  homely  phrase." 

"Ha,  ha!  the  North  knows  my  views..  They 
were  heralded  abroad  everywhere  and  gave 
me  the  governorship.  I  had  five  planks  in  my 
platform  and,  to  match  your  homely  phrase  with 
another  One,  they  took  like  hot  cakes,"  said  the 
governor. 

"Would  you  object  to  outlining  your  platform 
to  me,"  asked  Earl. 

"Object?  Why  I  am  the  boldest  man  in  the 
South.  I  don't  bite  my  tongue.  Surely  you  have 
heard  of  me,"  said  the  governor. 

"Yes,  I  have  heard  of  you,"  said  Earl,  "but  I 
did  not  know  but  what  you  had  been  misrepre- 
sented by  political  enemies." 

"Well,  you  can  judge  for  yourself  as  to  whether 
I  have  been  misrepresented  or  not.  The  five 
planks  of  my  'nigger'  platform  are  these,"  said 
he. 

"First,  this  is  a  white  man's  country. 

"Second,  one  drop  of  Negro  blood  in  a  man's 
veins  makes  him  a  'nigger.' 


ENTHUSIASTIC   JOHN   BLUE.  259 

'Third,  public  office,  neither  federal  nor  state, 
was  gotten  up  for  a  'nigger'  to  hold. 

"Fourth,  all  money  spent  on  educating  a  'nig- 
ger/ except  to  teach  him  to  work,  is  a  squandering 
of  the  public  funds. 

"Fifth,  the  outside  world  be  d— d.  We  will  deal 
with  the  'nigger'  to  suit  ourselves. 

"I  will  also  tell  you  confidentially  that  I  am  one 
that  don't  want  the  'nigger'  question  out  of  poli- 
tics. We  are  living  side  by  side  with  these  'nig- 
gers,' and  public  agitation  helps  our  people  to 
keep  in  mind  that  there  is  an  impassable  gulf  be- 
tween the  races.  Such  men  as  I  am  would  be  per- 
fect fools  for  trying  to  solve  this  'nigger'  problem. 
A  crazy  man  can  see  that  the  solving  of  this  prob- 
lem puts  my  kind  out  of  business.  Thousands  of 
Southern  men  can  whip  me  out  of  my  boots  on 
any  issue  outside  of  abusing  the  'nigger.'  That's 
where  I  can  go  them  one  better.  Haven't  you  ob- 
served the  universal  lament  that  we  are  not  up  to 
the  standard  in  point  of  statesmanship.  The 
trouble  is  we  ride  into  our  kingdoms  so  easily.  It 
don't  take  a  genius  to  persuade  a  people  that  you 
can  beat  a  more  tender-hearted,  man  keeping  a 
'nigger'  in  his  place.  We  machine  men  in  the 
South  don't  want  this  'nigger'  bugaboo  put  down. 
It's  our  war  whoop." 

"Aside  from  the  political  use  to  which  you 
put  your  announced  views  on  the  race  question, 
you  really  believe  them,  don't  you?"  asked  Earl. 


260  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

"0  yes.  I  think  the  good  of  the  world  demands 
that  the  'nigger'  be  kept  in  his  place,"  replied  the 
governor. 

"Now,  I  am  getting  to  the  point/'  said  Earl. 
"Lincoln  once  said  our  country  could  not  always 
exist  half  slave  and  half  free.  You  see  he  wai 
right.  Now  a  lesser  light  than  Lincoln  tells  you 
that  the  policy  of  repression  must  obtain  in  all 
our  country  or  none,  for  the  nationalizing  spirit 
is  at  work,  and  is  sure  in  time  to  produce  a  na- 
tional unity  of  some  sort.  Shall  this  unity,  so  far 
as  touches  the  question  of  the  races,  be  upon  the 
Northern  or  Southern  basis,  is  a  very  live  ques- 
tion for  you  Southerners.  Now  I  suggest  that 
you  Southern  people  make  this  question  a  national 
one." 

"How  can  we  raise  the  issue,"  asked  the  gov- 
ernor. 

"Easily.  You  people  have  been  tolerating  Ne- 
groes in  federal  positions  down  here  for  years. 
Collectorships  of  ports,  marshalships  and  numer- 
ous positions  of  honor  have  all  along  been  held 
by  Negroes.  Become  tired  of  this  and  demand 
that  they  be  withdrawn.  That  will  be  an  invita- 
tion to  the  nation  to  join  with  you  in  your  policy 
of  repression." 

"Good!  Good!"  said  the  governor,  clapping 
his  hands. 

"You  can  go  further.  The  presidency  of  our 
nation  is  where  the  copartnership  of  the  states 
finds  conspicuous  concrete  expression.  Demand 


ENTHUSIASTIC   JOHN   BLUE.  261 

that  none  but  a  repressionist  or  a  man  silent  on 
that  question  be  allowed  to  occupy  that  chair." 

"Good!  Good!  Good!"  exclaimed  the  gov- 
ernor. 

"Now  as  to  your  chances.  The  race  instinct  is 
in  the  North,  but  is  not  cultivated  as  much  as  it  is 
in  the  South.  Send  your  men  to  the  North  who 
are  most  adroit  in  their  appeals  to  prejudice  and 
you  will  find  a  force  there  to  join  you.  Then  re- 
member you  Southerners  sprang  to  arms  so  gal- 
lantly in  that  skirmish  with  Spain  that  you  made 
a  fine  impression.  It  was  discovered  that  you 
had  been  brave  enough  not  to  allow  defeat  to  ran- 
kle in  your  hearts,  a  really  good  quality.  A  more 
opportune  time  for  you  Southern  people  to  take 
a  stand  would  be  hard  to  conceive,"  said  Earl. 

Down  came  the  governor's  hand  upon  his  desk 
with  a  thud. 

"Don't  you  know  I  have  been  thinking  that  very 
thing.  I  have  great  influence  in  the  councils  of 
my  party  and  I  shall  see  to  it  that  the  'nigger' 
question  is  the  next  national  issue,"  said  the  gov- 
ernor. 

"You  will  have  one  little  backset,"  said  Earl. 

"The  man  whom  you  will  have  to  oppose  has 
made  fewer  Negro  appointments  than  any  of  his 
more  immediate  predecessors  and  those  made 
have  been  of  a  very  high  order — a  thin£  that 
could  not  always  be  said.  Again,  he  has  made  it 
a  point  to  have  no  Southern  adviser  save  a  known 


262  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

friend  of  the  best  element  of  the  Southern  peo- 
ple." 

The  governor  looked  wrothy  again.  "Best  ele- 
ment," said  he,  sneeringly.  "He  is  losing  his  time 
fooling  with  that  crowd.  All  we  radicals  have 
to  do  is  to  crack  our  whips  and  they  run  to  cover." 

"That  brings  us  to  another  point  of  consider- 
able importance.  When  the  campaign  is  launched, 
whose  views  on  the  race  question  shall  be  in  the 
foreground — the  views  of  the  radicals  or  conser- 
vatives in  the  South,"  asked  Earl. 

"The  radicals  shall  occupy  the  center  of  the 
stage,  sir.  We  are  tired  of  these  half-way  poli-^ 
cies!"  thundered  the  governor. 

Earl  now  arose  to  go. 

"You  will  certainly  hear  from  us  radicals  as 
never  before  in  the  history  of  the  nation — that  is, 
since  we  jumped  in  the  saddle  and  brought  on  the 
war,"  said  the  governor. 

"By  jinks,  you  don't  think  another  war  will 
come  on,  do  you,  Mr.  Blue?"  asked  the  governor. 

"Oh,  no;  we  have  had  our  last  war  with  lead 
and  steel.  All  of  our  internal  conflicts  for  the  fu- 
ture must  be  intellectual,  it  seems,"  answered 
John  Blue. 

"I  am  glad  to  hear  you  say  that,  for  if  we  got 
into  another  tangle  I  do  believe  to  my  soul  that 
these  'niggers'  would  be  a  little  less  quiet  than 
they  were  before.  But  for  our  political  alliance 
with  the  North  we  of  the  South  would  have  to  be 
one  of  the  most  truckling  of  nations.  For,  what 


ENTHUSIASTIC   JOHN   BLUE.  263 

could  we  do  to  a  foreign  foe  with  all  these  discon- 
tented 'niggers'  squirming  in  the  fires  of  race 
prejudice,  like  so  many  worms  in  hot  ashes.  You 
are  sure  there  won't  be  any  physical  fighting?" 
remarked  the  governor. 

"The  North  would  hardly  hit  you,  for  you  are 
blood  of  their  blood  and  they  know  how  utterly 
helpless  you  are  with  an  awakened  race  in  your 
borders  thoroughly  of  the  opinion  that  you  are 
not  giving  them  a  semblance  of  fair  treatment," 
said  John  Blue. 

"I  gad,  we  must  bring  the  North  our  way.  I 
see  that  whoever,  in  this  fight  of  the  races,  gets 
the  outsider  is  going  to  carry  the  day.  We  are 
coming  in  the  next  campaign.  Look  out  for  us." 

The  two  men  bade  each  other  adieu  and  Earl 
walked  out  of  the  office. 

Earl  invaded  state  after  state  in  the  South  and 
conferred  with  the  radical  leaders  wherever  he 
went  and  found  the  sentiment  everywhere  pre- 
vailing that  the  time  was  ripe  for  the  radical 
South  to  pull  off  its  mask  and  let  the  world  see  its 
real  heart. 

With  an  anxious  heart  Earl  watched  the  form- 
ing of  the  lines  of  the  campaign.  Men  in  all 
parts  of  the  country,  whose  only  hope  of  success 
lay  in  obtaining  the  political  power  in  the  hands 
of  the  radicals,  besought  them  to  forego  making 
the  Negro  question  an  issue,  but  they  were  deaf  to 
all  appeals. 


264  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

The  convention  dominated  by  the  radicals  met, 
and  John  Blue,  alias  Earl  Bluefield,  was  there. 
When  the  Anti-Negro  plank  was  read,  from  his 
seat  in  the  gallery  a  mighty  cheer  rang  out  that 
started  a  wave  of  enthusiasm  unsurpassed  in  the 
history  of  political  conventions. 

As  John  Blue  stood  \vaving  a  flag  and  cheering1, 
his  eye  swept  over  that  great  throng,  and  he  said 
to  himself: 

"0  bonnie  Southland :  if  you  had  developed  real 
statesmen  among  you,  men  who  knew  their  age, 
they  would  be  here  to  tell  all  these  people  save 
myself  to  be  quiet,  on  the  ground  that  it  is  indeli- 
cate for  a  corpse  to  cheer  at  its  own  funeral.  But 
your  really  great  men  are  at  home  sorrowing  over 
your  coming  humiliation.  This  day's  work  is  the 
beginning  of  the  end.  Eunice,  the  sky  brightens ! 

"Heaven  of  heavens,  I  thank  thee  that  thou 
hast  so  arranged  it  that  the  American  people  must 
now  say  as  to  whether  or  not  the  caste  spirit  shall 
be  allowed  to  lay  his  bloody  tentacles  on  the  po- 
litical life  of  the  whole  nation." 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 


Postponing  His  Shout  of  Triumph. 

ITH  ceaseless,  tireless  energy  Earl  Blue- 
field  went  everywhere  in  the  North 
during  the  campaign  that  followed,  as- 
sailing the  political  power  in  control  of 
the  South.  The  heat  of  his  heart  warmed  his 
words  and  his  eloquence  thrilled  the  nation. 

"How  has  it  happened  that  an  orator  of  such 
power  has  remained  so  long  hidden  from  the  na- 
tion's gaze?"  was  the  question  everywhere  asked. 
In  an  address  to  Northern   labor,   which    was 
heralded  far  and  wide,  Earl  said: 

"To  those  of  you  who  in  the  sweat  of  your  brow 
earn  your  bread,  I  bring  the  message  that  your 
earning  of  a  livelihood,  a  very  grave  matter  with 
you,  is  affected  by  the  Southern  situation. 

"It  has  been  said  that  the  South  is  freer  from 
labor  strikes  than  any  other  equal  area  of  terri- 
tory within  the  borders  of  civilization.  The  weak- 
ness of  the  Negro  in  the  body  politic,  his  lack  of 
means  to  insure  his  protection,  gives  timidity  to 
Negro  labor  and  causes  it  to  be  little  inclined  to 
organize. 

"The  enforced  cheapness  of  Negro  labor  brings 
down  the  price  of  all  labor,  just  as  a  house  sinks 

(265) 


266  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

with  its  foundation.  Lo,  the  word  has  already 
gone  forth  that  the  South  is  the  place  for  capital, 
that  labor  is  cheap,  that  there  is  an  absence  of 
social  unrest  found  elsewhere. 

"Read  your  commercial  journals  and  note  how 
many  of  the  institutions  upon  which  you  have  de- 
pended for  a  livelihood  have  been  transferred  to 
this  land  of  cheapness  and  peace,  ominous  peace. 
Note  how  your  captains  of  industry  are  assever- 
ating that  factories  in  the  North  must  cut  wages 
in  order  to  compete  with  those  that  have  gone 
South. 

"Your  economists  saw  in  the  days  preceding 
civil  strife  that  the  workingman  of  the  North 
could  ill  afford  to  compete  with  slave  labor  at  the 
South.  Permit  me  to  say  to  you  that  the  half- 
slave,  the  political  slave,  made  timid  by  an  en- 
vironment that,  tends  to  crush  his  spirit  and 
dwarf  his  energies,  is  a  menace  to  you,  holding 
the  white  labor  of  the  South  down  and  affecting 
you  of  the  North. 

"Again,  adverse  conditions  at  the  South  will 
drive  the  Negro  to  your  very  door.  Some  day 
when  you  desire  to  remain  away  from  work  to 
allow  your  employers  leisure  to  ponder  a  condi- 
tion which  you  desire  improved,  you  will  find  the 
Negro  there  to  take  your  place. 

"Men  of  the  North,  mark  well  my  words :  You 
must  lend  your  aid  to  an  adjustment  of  relations 
in  the  South  upon  an  equitable  basis  or  be  con- 
fronted with  the  question  of  the  disorganization 
and  readjustment  of  your  own  affairs.  Stand  out 
against  the  repressionists  of  the  South,  make  the 
whole  nation  a  field  of  fair  play  and  then  we  will 
not  have  this  one  disturbing  center  distributing 
trouble  to  all  other  parts  of  the  nation/' 


POSTPONING  HIS  SHOUT  OF  TRIUMPH.        267 

Addressing  the  business  interests  of  the  coun- 
try, he  said: 

"Work  is  the  one  American  word,  and  as  a  re- 
sult great  is  the  monument  erected  to  our  indus- 
try. Our  accumulations  are  enormous. 

"From  time  to  time  questions  affecting  the 
whole  wealth  of  the  nation  must  be  passed  upon 
by  the  people.  These  repressionists  have  shown 
that  there  is  no  interest  so  vital  but  that  they  will 
smite  it  hip  and  thigh  if  by  so  doing  they  may  ad- 
vance the  policy  of  repression.  You  are  con- 
fronted therefore  with  a  power  that  bids  you  to 
become  repressionists  or  stand  subject  to  on- 
slaughts whenever  the  fancy  obtains  that  a  lick 
at  your  interests  will  do  their  cause  good. 

"You  cannot  commit  yourselves  to  the  cause  of 
repression.  It  taints  character.  You  are  great 
employers  of  labor.  In  the  mighty  problems  that 
are  to  confront  you  your  spirit  will  be  your  most 
valuable  asset.  You  must  keep  it  pure  at  all  haz- 
ards. Nor  can  your  business  interests  long  en- 
dure these  constant  jars  from  the  repressionists. 
You  cannot  afford  to  accept  either  horn  of  the  di- 
lemma offered  you  by  the  repressionists.  Your 
only  remedy  lies  in  smiting  repression. '\ 

To  the  statesmen  whose  anxious  eyes  were 
upon  the  future  of  the  nation,  he  said : 

"In  the  days  that  are  now  upon  us  and  in  the 
years  that  are  to  come  there  can  be  no  escape, 
perhaps,  from  some  ills  of  which  the  fathers  never 
dreamed,  unless  a  larger  grant  of  power  be  given 
unto  our  national  government.  However  press- 
ing the  situation,  rely  upon  it,  the  repressionists 
will  seek  to  keep  the  nation  in  swaddling  clothes 
is 


268  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

for  fear  that  added  power  might  some  day  turn 
its  attention  to  the  question  of  repression." 

In  an  address  to  the  whole  people,  he  said: 

"A  power  that  would  wrong  a  race,  that  would 
in  any  way  restrict  human  growth,  that  would 
not  have  the  nation  a  fair  and  open  field,  is  out  of 
tune  with  heaven,  is  working  at  cross  purposes 
with  the  whole  universe,  and  will  carry  into  an 
abyss  all  whom  it  can  mislead." 

The  Negroes  are  a  people  capable  of  great  en- 
thusiasm and  ardent  attachments.  All  their 
fervor  was  thrown  into  the  campaign.  Any  vast 
body  of  people  with  deep  convictions  have  the 
powrer  to  greatly  impress  others.  The  settled 
conviction  of  the  Negroes  that  their  very  destiny 
in  America  hinged,  it  seemed,  upon  the  outcome 
of  this  election,  was  not  without  its  psychological 
effect  upon  the  public  mind. 

The  cause  championed  by  Earl  marched  to  a 
glorious  triumph  at  the  polls,  but  he  took  no  part 
in  the  jollification  that  followed. 

"My  work  is  only  half  done,"  was  the  reflection 
that  kept  him  calm  in  the  presence  of  the  victory 
for  which  he  had  made  the  full  offering  of  his 
soul. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 


He  Cannot,  But  He  Does! 

NSAL  ELLWOOD  entered  his  room 
in  his  home  in  Monrovia,  Liberia,  West 
Coast  Africa,  a  thoroughly  dejected 
man.  He  had  just  returned  from  an 
extended  trip  in  which  he  took  a  survey  of  his 
work  and  contemplated  the  outlook.  His  inves- 
tigations had  served  to  increase  his  hopes  as  to 
the  possibilities  of  the  African  race,  but  he  was 
nevertheless  depressed. 

Nor  was  this  the  first  time  during  his  stay  in 
Africa  that  this  gloomy  atmosphere  seemed  to 
envelop  him.  In  fact,  he  was  the  subject  of  fre- 
quent attacks  of  melancholia  which  the  many 
friends  that  he  had  made  had  found  inexplicable. 
This  depression  was  not  due  to  the  African  fe- 
ver, because  science  had  been  able  to  prepare  his 
system  to  resist  that  debilitating  agency. 

It  was  not  due  to  a  want  of  encouragement  in 
his  plans.  He  had  met  this  on  every  hand.  A 
number  of  Southern  men  in  sympathy  with 
the  higher  aspirations  of  the  Negro  race,  hopeless 
of  seeing  those  aspirations  realized  in  the  Souths 

(269) 


270  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

land,  had  placed  at  his  disposal  a  large  sum  of 
money  with  which  to  draw  off  the  Negro  popula- 
tion from  unfriendly  points  in  the  South  and  es- 
tablish them  in  Africa. 

Far  sighted  capitalists  of  America  seeing  in  an 
awakened  Africa  a  possible  market  for  American 
goods,  thought  it  wise  to  keep  in  touch  with  this 
young  man  who  was  to  be  so  largely  the  great 
awakening  agency. 

England,  France  and  Germany  vied  with  each 
other  in  offering  inducements  for  him  to  devote 
his  energies  to  their  respective  holdings.  The 
Republic  of  Liberia  was  wild  with  joy  over  his  in- 
terest in  her  welfare.  The  King  of  Abyssinia 
had  made  urgent  requests  for  him  to  come  to  his 
borders. 

Thousands  of  cultured  young  men  and  women 
had  caught  Ensal's  zeal  for  the  world-wide 
awakening  of  the  race  and  were  only  awaiting 
his  signal  to  flock  to  his  standard. 

And  yet  his  heart  was  heavy.  Ensal  took  his 
seat  at  his  desk  and  rested  his  throbbing  brow 
thereon.  He  mused  to  himself,  saying: 

"Here  I  am  with  the  mightiest  work  of  the  ao-es 
on  my  hands,  and  the  door  of  opportunity  before 
me,  and  yet,  terrible,  terrible  thought,  I  see  fail- 
ure written  upon  my  skies.  For  my  spirit  lags; 
there  is  no  quickening  battery  at  my  life's  center. 
Ah !  it  is  awful  to  be  dead  alive.  That  which 
would  quicken  my  spirit  and  give  me  the  needed 


HE  CANNOT,  BUT  HE  DOES !  271 

zest  to  face  the  work  of  an  Atlas,  the  bearing  of 
a  world  upon  my  shoulders — that  influence  is  far 
removed  from  me,  farther  than  those  stretches  of 
thousands  of  miles  tell  of." 

During  EnsaPs  absence  of  many  months  his 
mail  had  accumulated  until  now  he  found  himself 
face  to  face  with  a  huge  pile  of  unopened  letters 
and  newspapers.  Lifting  his  head  from  his  desk, 
he  wearily  turned  to  his  mail. 

In  the  pile  of  letters  he  came  across  one  from 
Earl  Bluefield  which  ran  as  follows : 

MY  DEAR  ENSAL: 

There  is  great  need  of  you  in  America  at  this 
hour,  and  a  golden  opportunity  for  winning  an 
enduring  place  in  the  history  of  the  world  awaits 
you. 

The  repressionists  of  the  South  made  their 
policy  an  issue  in  the  presidential  campaign 
which  has  just  come  to  a  close,  and  they  have 
been  most  badly  beaten. 

As  you  know,  statesmanship  is  a  great  passion 
with  the  South  and  she  is  not  going  to  remain 
contented  in  the  position  of  impotent  isolation  to 
which  her  repressionist  element  has  consigned 
her.  A  new  order  of  leaders  will  now  be  put  for- 
ward as  the  spokesmen  of  the  South  and  the  fair- 
ness of  their  words  is  going  to  be  seized  upon 
by  the  nation  as  offering  hope  for  a  new  order  of 
things. 

Since  the  liberal  element  among  the  whites  of 
the  South  are  to  be  given  a  day  in  court,  there 
is  great  need  of  that  type  of  Negroes  that  has 
standing  with  them.  I,  as  you  know,  am  per- 


272  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

sona  non  grata.  I  have  added  to  my  unpopularity 
by  the  manner  in  which  I  lambasted  the  repres- 
sionist  element  in  the  campaign  just  closed. 

Come  to  America  and  help  the  nation  to  reap 
the  fruits  of  its  victory  over  repression. 

Apart  from  my  interest  in  the  Negro  race, 
which  you  of  course  have  never  doubted,  I  have 
grave  personal  interests  at  stake,  and  know  not 
what  I  shall  do  if  you  fail  the  nation  in  this  hour 
of  its  need.  A  sorrow  as  great  as  the  world  has 
ever  known  hangs  over  me  and  over  the  Negro 
race.  Come  and  lift  it. 

EARL  BLUEFIELD. 

"No,  I  cannot  go.  I  cannot  be  that  near  to  Ti- 
ara. Heaven  knows  that  I  would  be  driven  mad 
to  see,  to  be  near  that  girl,  and  be  conscious  that 
her  love  lies  buried  with  another.  No,  I  cannot 
go.  America  may  need  me,  but  so  does  Africa, 
so  does  Africa."  Such  were  EnsaPs  thoughts 
upon  the  reading  of  Earl's  letter. 

Now  all  of  you  who  believe  in  altruism ;  who  be- 
lieve in  the  giving  of  one's  self  for  others;  who 
believe  in  fixedness  of  purpose;  who  have  in  any 
wise  pinned  your  faith  to  that  man  Ensal — let  all 
such  prepare  yourselves  for  evidence  of  the  utter 
frailty  of  man.  Bear  in  mind  that  Ensal  claims 
to  seek  the  highest  good  of  his  race,  that  he  has 
chosen  Africa  as  the  field  for  the  greatest  service, 
and  that  he  has  just  rejected  a  proposition  to  re- 
turn to  America  from  an  ultra-radical,  who  of  all 
men  has  come  to  regard  him  as  the  man  of  the 
hour. 


HE  CANNOT,  BUT  HE  DOES !  273 

Picking  up  a  package  of  newspapers,  he  tore 
the  wrappers  off  and  noticed  that  they  were  Al- 
maville  papers. 

"I  have  seen  that  face  before,"  said  he,  look- 
ing at  the  likeness  of  Eunice  Seabright  Volrees- 
Bluefield  reproduced  in  one  of  the  papers. 

He  now  turned  to  the  reading  matter,  taking 
note  of  a  column  that  had  blue  marks  calling  at- 
tention thereto.  This  was  an  account  of  Eunice's 
trial  and  contained  in  full  the  words  of  Tiara  in 
court  on  that  occasion. 

"0  my  God!"  exclaimed  Ensal  when  he  came 
to  that  part  of  Tiara's  testimony  which  disclosed 
the  fact  that  the  Rev.  Percy  G.  Marshall  was  her 
brother.  Now  observe  him,  you  who  have  faith 
in  man. 

"Landlady!  landlady!"  Ensal  exclaimed,  rush- 
ing out  of  his  room  in  search  of  that  personage. 
Finding  her,  he  said  excitedly,  "Put  everybody 
in  Monrovia  at  work  packing  up  my  possessions, 
please.  I  must  leave." 

"What  can  this  mean,  pray  tell.  I  understood 
that  you  were  to  devote  your  life  to  this  work" 
said  the  landlady,  much  amazed  at  the  sudden 
turn  of  affairs. 

"What  work?  Life?"  asked  Ensal,  absent- 
mindedly. 

"The  uplift  of  Africa,  the  redemption  of  your 
race,"  replied  the  landlady. 

"My  race,  dear  madam,  is  to  catch  the  first 
steamer  returning  to  America.  J\ist  now  the 


274  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

whole  world  with  me  converges  to  that  one  point. 
Let  us  be  in  a  hurry,  please." 

#  *  #  *  * 

As  Ensal  stepped  off  the  gangplank  and  again 
touched  American  soil,  Earl  was  there  to  greet 
him.  Arm  in  arm  the  two  men  wended  their 
way  through  the  crowded  streets  until  they 
reached  the  hotel  at  which  Earl  was  stopping. 

Earl  told  Ensal  the  story  of  Eunice's  derange- 
ment and  of  his  quest  for  a  message  of  hope  with 
which  to  effect  her  cure.  Ensal  readily  grasped 
the  situation.  At  times  in  the  past  friends  had 
hinted  that  the  problem  would  derange  him. 

"Let  us  serve  each  other,"  said  Ensal.  "I  will 
go  South  and  see  what  message  I  can  brin?  back 
for  you  to  carry  to  Eunice.  I  will  serve  you  thus. 
While  I  am  thus  engaged  there  is  something  you 
can  do  for  me.  The  kissing  of  the  Rev.  Percy  G. 
Marshall  by  Tiara,  made  known  to  me  by  poor 
Gus  Martin,  caused  me  to  abandon  my  purpose  of 
seeking  the  hand  of  Tiara.  I  wish  you  to  go  to 
her,  and  pave  the  way  for  a  visit  from  me.  Tell 
her  that  I  have  always  known  that  she  was  the 
noblest  girl  in  all  this  wide,  wide  world;  that  1 
looked  upon  the  kissing  incident  as  a  pure  love 
affair,  not  knowing  but  that  she  was  one  who  held 
that  of  one  blood  God  had  made  all  the  sons  of 
men  to  dwell  upon  the  face  of  earth;  and  that  I 
felt  that  death  alone  prevented  her  and  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Marshall  from  becoming  man  and  wife  in 
some  other  pa*rt  of  the  .world. 


HE  CANNOT,  BUT  HE  DOES!  275 

"Now,  Earl,  tell  her  all  this.  You  are  her 
brother-in-law  and  can  find  a  nice  way  of  talking 
freely  with  her  concerning  the  matter.  May  I 
depend  upon  you?" 

'To  the  utmost,"  replied  Earl  earnestly. 

The  two  men  now  parted,  each  in  search  of 
hope  for  the  other.  Earl's  task  was  compara- 
tively easy,  for  Tiara  had  all  along  fully  under- 
stood Ensal  and  felt  no  need  of  the  assurances 
which  Earl  sought  to  bring.  Earl  was  more  than 
happy  at  the  outcome  of  his  mission,  happv  that 
he  could  inform  Ensal  that  the  way  was  now 
clear  for  him  to  declare  himself  to  Tiara.. 

We  shall  now  follow  Ensal  to  find  out  what 
measure  of  success  attended  his  mission. 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 


A  Son  of  the  New  South. 

UNDERSTAND  that  a  few  years  ago 
a  Negro  man  and  woman  were  burned 
at  the  stake  in  this  neighborhood. 
Would  you  kindly  show  me  the  place  ?'' 
This  request  came  from  Ensal  Ellwood  and  was 
addressed  to  young  Maul,  the  attorney  who  had 
plead  so  earnestly  for  the  conviction  of  the  lynch- 
ers  of  Bud  and  Foresta.  A  sad  look  stole  over 
young  Maul's  face. 

"I  never  go  that  way  if  I  can  avoid  it  easily. 
That  was  indeed  a  horrible  affair  and  our  section, 
according  to  the  law  of  retribution,  will  have  it 
to  pay  for,"  replied  young  Maul,  won  by  Ensal's 
kindly  tone  and  look.  "There  is  the  kindly  Ne- 
gro of  the  past  revised  and  brought  down  to 
date,"  thought  young  Maul,  as  he  looked  at  Ensal 
and  further  studied  him. 

"It  has  already  paid  for  it,  perhaps,"  said  En- 
sal.  "It  may  be  that  some  one  of  this  place  was 
marked  by  nature  to  shed  unfading  lustre  upon 
your  state,  and  could  have  made  these  rivers  and 

(276) 


A  SON  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH.  277 

hills  and  plains  revered  in  all  the  earth,  but  the 
light  of  his  genius  was  extinguished  by  that 
smoke,  perhaps,  perhaps,"  said  Ensal  sadly. 

The  two  men  now  walked  in  the  direction  oi? 
the  scene  of  the  burning.  They  soon  arrived  at 
the  spot,  and  Ensal  looked  long  at  the  charred 
trunks  of  the  trees  that  had  served  as  stakes. 
He  scanned  the  trees  from  the  parched  roots  to 
the  forlorn  tree  tops,  took  note  of  the  fact  that 
the  bark  was  missing  and  reflected  that  the  absent 
bark  was  no  doubt  yet  serving  as  souvenirs  in 
many  Maulville  homes. 

'They  are  dead — the  trees  I  mean — and  per- 
haps it  is  well.  Time  wall  now  eat  away  their 
vitals  and  they  shall  no  longer  stand  as  monu- 
ments to  the  shame  of  our  land/'  said  Young  Maul. 

"Suppose  we  sit  down.  I  have  much  to  say  to 
you,  Mr.  Maul,"  said  Ensal,  who  felt  himself  the 
ambassador  of  millions  and  of  Tiara's  demented 
sister.  Anxious  indeed  was  he  that  he  should 
succeed  in  the  object  of  his  visit. 

The  men  walked  over  to  the  Negro  church  near 
the  scene,  and  took  seats  upon  the  steps  thereof. 

"Quite  a  fitting  place  for  my  talk,"  began  En- 
sal.  "My  name  is  Ensal  Ellwood.  Looking  at 
the  spot  where  the  South  is  seen  at  its  worst  is 
but  a  prelude  to  what  I  have  made  a  long  journey 
to  say  to  you,"  said  Ensal. 

"I  shall  be  glad  to  hear  what  you  have  to  say, 
Mr,  Ellwood,"  said  young  Maul. 


278  THE    HINDERED    HAND. 

"I  notice  that  you  say  'Mister,'  "  said  Ensal, 
in  kindly  tone. 

"I  am  not  one  of  those  that  believe  that  my 
manhood  is  compromised  by  the  use  of  the  term 
'Mister'  to  a  Negro.  I  remember  that  the  greatest 
of  all  Southerners  and  the  greatest  of  all  world 
heroes,  the  immortal  Washington,  once  lifted  his 
hat  to  a  Negro  man.  When  asked  about  his  ac- 
tion he  replied  that  he  could  not  let  that  Negro  be 
more  polite  than  he  was.  I  take  the  same  posi- 
tion. I  think  a  man's  manhood  is  exceedingly 
feeble  when  it  has  to  have  an  army  of  sentinels 
to  be  always  on  the  alert,  to  keep  somebody  from 
kidnapping  it,"  said  young  Maul. 

"To  come  at  once  to  the  point,  Mr.  Maul,  I 
have  come  to  you  to  make  overtures  for  a  treaty 
of  peace  between  the  Negroes  of  the  United  States 
and  the  white  people  of  the  South,"  said  Ensal. 

"I  shall  hear  you  gladly,"  said  young  Maul. 

"George  Washington,  Thomas  Jefferson  and 
Robert  E.  Lee  are  to  the  people  of  the  South  stars 
of  the  first  magnitude,  and  you  would  like  to  send 
other  stars  to  keep  them  company.  But,  chang- 
ing the  figure,  an  actor  must  have  a  stage  that 
places  him  in  the  full  view  of  his  audience,  if  he 
would  do  his  best  work.  Our  nation  is  the  stage 
upon  which  your  sons  are  to  strive  for  immor- 
tality. 

"To  labor  to  the  best  advantage  they  must  have 
the  chance  to  be  vested  with  the  authority  of  the 
nation,  the  power  of  the  whole  people.  Given 


A  SON  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH.  279 

that  power,  the  scroll  of  immortality  will  at  least 
be  laid  before  them  that  they  may  make  effort  to 
write  their  names  thereon,"  said  Ensal. 

"Now,  Mr.  Maul,"  he  continued,  "the  Negro 
population  is  so  distributed  that  it  now  holds  the 
balance  of  powrer  in  the  nation.  We  have  it  in 
our  power  to  keep  the  South  out  of  its  larger 
glory. 

"However  unpalatable  it  may  be  to  a  Southern 
white  man,  he  must  reckon  with  the  fact,  that  be- 
tween himself  and  the  coveted  favor  of  the  nation 
stands  the  will  of  the  Negro." 

"That  is  very  apparent,"  said  young  Maul. 

"While  we  can  hamper,"  resumed  Ensal,  "the 
white  people  of  the  South  nationally,  they  can 
trouble  us  considerably  locally.  Now,  we  are  not 
enemies  of  the  South,  and  take  no  delight  in  the 
crippling  of  her  influence  per  se,  and  we  would 
like  to  see  this  unarmed  strife  come  to  a  close. 
Nothing  would  give  the  Negroes  greater  joy  than 
to  see  the  right  kind  of-  a  white  man  from  the 
South  made  President  of  the  nation. 

"And  the  right  kind  of  men  exist  in  the  South ! 
There  were  perhaps  as  many  white  men  from  the 
South  in  the  Union  army  as  there  were  Negroes. 

"Only  one  thing  is  now  needed  to  gladden  the 
hearts  of  the  Negroes  of  the  United  States  and 
cause  them  to  turn  enthusiastically  to  the  mak- 
ing of  the  South  the  grandest  section  of  the 
Union,"  said  Ensal. 

"What  can  that  be,  pray?"  said  young  Maul. 


280  THE    HINDERED    HAND. 

"Mr.  Maul,  excuse  me  for  .not  stating  at  once. 
Cast  your  eye  back  over  the  history  of  our  coun- 
try and  take  note  of  the  woes  that  have  been 
heaped  upon  the  South  and  upon  the  nation  by 
the  radicals  among  you. 

"There  was  a  strong  anti-war  party  in  the 
South  prior  to  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war, 
but  the  radicals  overwhelmed  them  and  brought 
on  that  disastrous  conflict. 

"Immediately  after  the  war  the  radicals  got 
control  of  some  of  your  state  legislatures  and  be- 
gan to  pass  laws  that  would  have  practically  re- 
enslaved  the  Negroes.  The  radical  policy  of  the 
nation,  as  revealed  in  reconstruction  measures 
was  the  child  of  radicalism  in  the  South,  so  charge 
the  burdens  and  woes  of  that  period  to  your  rad- 
icals. 

"  'Carpet-baggers'  and  'scalawags'  misman- 
aged affairs  in  the  South,  and  some  of  your  good 
people,  you  state,  resorted  to  lawless  methods  to 
displace  them.  The  radicals  took  charge  of  this 
lawless  organization,  you  claim,  prostituted  it, 
and  made  a  record  of  crime  and  villainy  in  the 
South  so  great  that  eleven  large  volumes  in  the 
records  of  Congress  are  required  to  merely  hint 
at  the  atrocities.  The  nation  grew  quiet  for  a 
period,  to  catch  your  point  of  view  and  reason 
with  you,  and  your  radicals  misread  its  attitude 
and  thought  that  -it  had  undergone  a  change  of 
heart.  They  led  the  South  to  its  recent  crushing 
defeat. 


A  SON  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH.  281 

"The  radicals  who  have  oppressed  the  Negroes 
of  the  South  and  sent  them  North,  sent  them 
forth  with  heart  burnings,  and  through  the  pivot- 
al states  of  the  North  they  are  ever  on  guard  to 
turn  the  tide  of  battle  against  your  section.  Rad- 
icalism, then,  is  building  up  a  political  power  in 
the  North  that  will  be  a  potent  factor  in  continu- 
ing the  isolation  and  impotence  of  your  section, 
and  will  render  the  wish  of  a  Negro  ward  politi- 
cian of  the  North  of  more  consequence  than  the 
combined  pleadings  of  all  your  congressional  dele- 
gation from  the  South. 

"In  the  South  to-day  radicalism  is  widening 
the  breach  between  the  races  and  that  old  kind- 
ly feeling  is  fast  disappearing,  being  succeeded 
by  suspicion  and  hate. 

"The  bonds  of  personal  friendship  which  have 
served  to  keep  things'  quiet  in  the  South  when 
circumstances  seemed  most  forbidding  are  being 
snapped  asunder.  The  sullen  hatred  of  the  Ne- 
groes engendered  by  the  rabid  utterances  and  vio- 
lent conduct  of  the  radicals  among  the  whites  is 
pregnant  with  harm  to  the  South,  and  tends  to 
summon  to  a  resurrection  the  entombed  savagery 
of  some  members  of  the  race,  and  to  dishearten 
others  in  their  upward  strivings.  On  and  on  I 
could  go,  showing  the  awful  wreckage  in  the  path- 
way of  the  Southern  radical. 

"If  the  nation  would  ever  heal  this  sore  the 
radicals  must  be  suppressed.  If  the  Negroes  at- 
tempt their  undoing  a  feeling  of  racial  solidarity 


282  THE    HINDERED    HAND. 

among  the  whites  greets  them.     If  the  North  at- 
tempts it  a. sectional  feeling  is  stimulated. 

"I  come  now  to  the  one  thing  that  will  gladden 
the  hearts  of  the  Negroes  and  the  nation  and 
make  secure  the  glory  of  the  South.  We  would 
have  you  good  white  people  of  the  South  to  as- 
sert yourselves — that  class  of  you  who  have  not 
been  carried  away  with  that  false  doctrine  that 
the  problem  can  be  solved  with  the  Negro  shorn 
of  political  power.  In  short,  the  one  missing 
factor  now  needed  is  aggressiveness  on  the  part 
of  the  right  thinking  white  people  of  the  South," 
said  Ensal,  who  now  ceased  and  awaited  with 
anxious  heart  young  Maul's  reply. 

"As  to  the  matter  of  our  aggressiveness,  Mr. 
Ellwood,"  responded  young  Maul,  "have  no  doubt 
on  that  score.  The  South  has  been  so  unmerci- 
fully carved  in  the  slaughter  pen  into  which  her 
radicals  led  her,  that  she  is  now  willing  to  hear 
from  men  of  saner  moods.  Many  a  true  South- 
erner, silent  through  force  of  circumstances,  has 
been  waiting  for  just  this  hour.  Watch  us.  We 
are  going  to  suppress  lynching,  enforce  laws  im- 
partially, allow  Negroes  all  their  rights  as  citizens, 
make  no  discriminations  because  of  race,  color  or 
previous  condition  of  servitude,  and  encourage 
them  to  develop  their  God-given  powers  fully. 
Nor  shall  we  be  afraid  of  them.  They  did  not 
strike  us  in  the  back  in  the  time  of  civil  strife 
and  they  have  never  lost  a  kindly  feeling  for  us 
in  spite  of  what  the  radicals  have  done  to  them. 


A  SON  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH.  283 

Quite  well  has  Professor  Shaler  said  that  if  the 
two  races  do  not  live  in  amity  it  will  not  be  the 
i'ault  of  the  Negroes." 

"Mr.  Maul,"  said  Ensal,  grasping  the  young 
man's  hand,  "well  might  the  struggling  world, 
writhing  up  from  its  low  estate,  rejoice  that  your 
type  is  now  to  assume  charge  of  the  destiny  of  the 
white  race  in  the  South/' 

"Now,  Mr.  Maul,"  continued  Ensal  soberly, 
"one  thing  for  which  we  Negroes  are  to 
labor  might  be  construed  as  an  evidence 
of  clistrust  of  the  better  element  of  Southern 
people,  and  I  would  have  you  to  understand 
us.  The  radicals  of  the  South,  as  I  have  stated, 
invited  radicalism  from  the  North  as  the  only 
sure  antidote.  To  correct  some  evils,  numbers 
of  your  good  people  condoned  a  departure  from 
accepted  standards  of  ethics.  Men  whom  you 
knew  to  be  perjurers,  ballot  box  stuff ers  and  vi- 
olaters  of  law  were,  because  of  those  very  qual- 
ities, allowed  to  occupy  high  station  among  you. 
Many  of  you  felt  that  your  ills  could  only  have 
been  cured  in  that  way.  We  Negroes  have  felt 
that  a  moral  revolution  could  have  been  effected, 
and  would  have  left  no  residue  of  evil  in  its 
wake.  But  other  methods  prevailed  and  you  now 
have  among  you  a  class  of  men  who  feel  no  com- 
punctions of  conscience  at  cheating.  Having 
blunted  their  consciences  cheating  us,  they  will 
now  seek  to,  cheat  the  better  element  of  whites  in 
the  era  of  promised  agressiveness.  We  Negroes 
19 


284  THE    HINDERED    HAND. 

are  going  to  ask  one  favor  of  the  nation,  and  that 
is  that  it  enforce  its  constitution,  which  provides 
one  test  for  all  American  citizens.  If  we  win  it 
will  not  only  free  us  from  the  repressionists,  but 
will  free  the  better  element  of  Southern  whites  as 
well.  Your  type  of  men  can  then  have  a  chance 
in  the  South." 

Young  Maul  sat  meditating  a  while  and  then 
said: 

"Do  you  know  that  in  a  fair  test  of  strength 
the  better  element  of  whites  even  now  would  tri- 
umph at  the  polls.  But  the  spirit  of  fraud  built 
up  to  dethrone  the  'carpet  bag'  government  yet 
lingers  to  haunt  those  who  would  now  dispense 
with  it,  which  shows  how  dangerous  it  is  to  do 
evil  even  that  good  may  come. 

"We  of  the  South  hear  much  of  bribery  and 
corruption  in  the  North,  and  I  stand  ready  to  co- 
operate with  the  decent  element  to  purify  the 
suffrage  of  the  entire  nation." 

"You  favor  then  the  enforcement  by  Congress 
of  the  Fifteenth  Amendment  to  the  Constitution," 
asked  Ensal. 

"I  would  not  have  our  nation  live  a  lie  and  pol- 
lute the  whole  stream  of  our  people's  life.  If  the 
nation  is  lawless  it  can  hardly  expect  its  citizens 
to  be  different.  I  stand  for  the  enforcement  of 
law,  all  law.  The  very  life  of  the  nation  itself 
depends  upon  the  purity  of  the  electorate,  and  the 
ballot  box  is  as  sure  to  become  sacred  in  America 


A  SON  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH.  285 

as  our  nation  is  to  stand,"  said  young  Maul  ear- 
nestly. 

"Now  that  we  understand  each  other  on  those 
matters,  let  me  now  say  a  few  words  to  you  con- 
cerning some  needs  of  the  Negro  race,"  continued 
young  Maul. 

"Radicalism  and  aggression  on  the  part  of  some 
of  the  whites  constitute  one  phase  of  our  problem, 
but  the  weakened  condition  of  your  race  must  also 
be  reckoned  with  as  a  factor.  Had  Africa  been  in 
a  position  to  make  it  uncomfortable  for  all  who 
sought  to  hold  her  children  in  bondage,  there 
would  have  been  no  traffic  in  slaves  from  that  con- 
tinent. While  we  are  going  to  do  what  we  can 
to  hold  in  check  those  who  would  oppress  or  re- 
strict you,  we  expect  you  to  eliminate  the  weak- 
ness in  your  race  that  invites  attack. 

"You  must  become  intellectually  strong,  so  that 
you  may  always  be  in  hailing  distance  of  the 
world's  thought  power  which  determines  the  des- 
tiny of  the  human  race. 

"Take  special  note  of  what  I  am  now  going  to 
say,"  continued  young  Maul.  "When  an  air  of  gen- 
uine democracy  pervades  the  South  and  the  spirit 
of  caste  no  longer  obtains  in  the  political  and  in- 
dustrial world,  forms  of  labor  now  regarded  as 
beneath  the  dignity  of  white  people  will  no  longer 
be  so  regarded,  and  the  Negro  will  find  himself 
face  to  face  with  competition  in  fields  now  con- 
ceded to  him.  While  political  power  is  necessary 


286  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

to  safety  in  the  body  politic,  do  not  expect  too 
much  of  it,  and  neglect  not  the  industrial  crisis. 

"As  to  politics,  it  is  clear  that  your  political 
problem  in  the  South  is  going  to  be  a  difficult  one. 
You  see,  your  race  was  freed  by  a  political  party 
which  conducted  the  war  of  the  sections.  It  is 
hard  to  get  your  people  to  do  other  than  vote  with 
that  party,  while  the  more  substantial  element  of 
the  whites  in  the  South  have  for  a  hundred  years 
been  in  the  opposing  party.  The  great  misfor- 
tune of  the  political  situation  is  that  the  Negroes 
and  the  better  element  of  whites  never  pull  to- 
gether in  the  one  political  harness." 

"We  have  given  that  matter  much  thought  and 
feel  that  we  have  a  solution/'  said  Ensal. 

"My  friend,  if  you  can  solve  that  problem  you 
have  gone  a  long  way  toward  solving  the  whole 
problem,"  said  young  Maul. 

"Here  is  our  plan,"  began  Ensal.  "The  Ne- 
groes have  discovered  the  utter  impotence  of  the 
class  of  w?iites  who  joined  them  for  the  sake  of 
office,  and  the  federal  pie-counter  element  of 
whites  has  utterly  lost  favor  with  the  great  body 
of  Negroes.  The  situation  within  the  Negro  race 
is  therefore  ripe  for  a  new  alignment.  We  have 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  American  people 
need  an  idealist  class  in  their  political  life,  and  it 
would  be  a  great  gift  to  the  nation  for  the  Negro 
to  point  the  way  for  such  a  party. 

"The  Negroes  are  going  to  organize  in  the  South 
an  Eclectic  party  that  will  serve  as  an  antidote  to 


A  SON  OF  THE  NEW  SOUTH.  287 

the  tendency  toward  party  worship.  We  shall 
separate  city  from  county  politics,  county  from 
state,  and  state  from  national.  We  shall  often, 
perhaps,  be  found  supporting  one  party's  candi- 
date for  governor  and  another  party's  candidate 
for  president.  The  question  of  human  rights  and 
the  civil  and  political  equality  of  all  men  shall  be 
a  first  consideration  with  us,  and  we  shall  go  to 
the  aid  of  the  class  of  men  of  like  faith  on  these 
points,  it  matters  not  in  what  political  party  they 
may  be  found.  The  best  interests  of  the  people, 
and  not  party  loyalty,  shall  be  our  creed. 

"In  this  way  we  shall  be  able  to  co-operate  with 
the  best  element  of  Southern  white  people. 
Though  not  posing  as  the  political  leader  of  my 
people,  I  feel  sure  that  I  correctly  forecast  their 
policy/'  said  Ensal. 

"Great  possibilities  lie  in  that  direction,  and  I 
firmly  believe  that  we  have  at  last  found  the  way 
of  peace  and  honor  and  justice  to  all,"  said  young 
Maul. 

The  two  young  men  now  parted,  and  Ensal 
went  to  the  telegraph  station  and  sent  the  follow- 
ing message  to  Earl : 

"Problem  will  now  be  solved.  Aggressiveness 
on  part  of  better  element  of  whites  assured  The 
whole  machinery  of  the  national  government  is  in 
hands  that  will  accord  them  support.  Working 
basis  in  political  matters  agreed  upon  for  better 
element  of  both  races.  Am  writing  you  at 
length." 


288  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

When  in  due  course  of  mail  EnsaPs  promised 
letter  reached  Earl  and  set  forth  the  prospects  of 
an  adjustment  of  the  questions  at  issue,  Earl  was 
exultant  and  felt  that  he  had  at  last  good  news  to 
carry  to  Eunice. 


CHAPTER  XL. 


Sorroiv  and  Gladness. 

N  THE  PARLOR  of  the  sanitarium 
Earl  sat  awaiting  the  coning  of  Eu- 
nice, his  face  telling  of  the  hopes  now 
alive  within  his  heart. 
With  an  exclamation  of  joy  Eunice  ran  and 
threw  herself  into  his  arms.  During  her  whole 
stay  in  the  sanitarium  the  Negro  question  had  not 
been  broached  to  her  and  her  mind  seemed  almost 
normal.  Earl  now  sought  to  complete  the  work 
by  letting  her  know  that  things  had  at  last  been 
set  right  and  that  the  color  of  a  man's  skin  was  to 
no  longer  be  in  his  way»  Standing  over  her  he 
whispered : 

"Eunice,  the  American  people  have  decreed 
that  the  door  of  hope  shall  not  be  closed  to  any  of 
their  citizens  because  of  the  accident  of  birth." 

A  strange  glow  came  into  Eunice's  eyes. 

"When  will  the  duly  authorized  power  see  to 
it  that  the  states  live  according  to  this  decree  and 
apply  one  test  to  voters  of  both  races, "  asked 

(289) 


290  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

Eunice  so  quietly,  so  intelligently,  that  hopes 
sprang  up  in  Earl's  breast. 

Stooping,  he  kissed  his  wife,  saying: 

"I  can't  say,  my  darling;  but  it  will  surely 
come  in  time." 

'Time!"  shrieked  Eunice.  "Same  old  thing! 
Time!  Bah!  We  shall  all  die  in  'time.'  Earl, 
are  you  turning  against  me,  coming  to  me  with 
that  old  word  'time?'  Ah!  Earl,  are  you  a  South- 
erner? Time!  Earl,  can't  you  persuade  the  peo- 
ple to  let  justice  do  now  what  they  are  waiting 
for  'time'  to  do?" 

Jumping  up  she  whirled  round  and  round  un- 
til from  sheer  exhaustion  she  fell  into  her  weep- 
ing husband's  arms. 

"0  thou  of  little  faith,  counterpart  of  my  own 
darker  days,  Eunice,  awake!  Awake!  The  cur- 
rents are  forming  that  will  sweep  the  caste  spirit 
out  of  the  political  life  of  the  nation.  Awake,  my 
Eunice!  Awake!"  plaintively  spoke  the  grief- 
stricken  husband  to  the  unheeding  ears  of  his 
wife. 

While  hope  thus  wrestles  with  despair,  we  visit 
another  parlor. 


In  the  parlor  of  Tiara's  home  Ensal  sat  awaiting 
the  coming  of  the  girl  that  he  had  loved  so 
long  and  so  ardently,  on  whom  he  had  now  called 
for  the  purpose  of  asking  her  to  link  her  destiny 
with  his. 


"Without  any  pretense  at  delivering  any  one  of  the  many  thousand  lit 
preliminary  speeches  framed  for  the  occasion,  Ensal  bent  forward  and  kiss 
Tiara." 

(290-291.) 


SORROW  AND  GLADNESS.  291 

Ensal  had  delivered  many  speeches  in  the 
course  of  his  lifetime,  but  he  could  hardly  recall 
one  that  had  given  him  as  much  trouble  as  the 
short  speech  which  he  had  sought  to  prepare  for 
Tiara.  Form  after  form  of  approach  came  to 
him,  but  they  were  all  rejected  as  being  inade- 
quate to  the  occasion,  so  that  when  the  beautiful 
Tiara  appeared  in  the  parlor  door  Ensal  was  ab- 
solutely and  literally  speechless. 

With  love-lit  eyes  Tiara  walked  unfalteringly 
in  his  direction  and,  with  a  smile  for  which  Ensal 
the  great  altruist,  mark  you,  fancied  he  would 
have  been  willing  to  return  from  a  thousand  Af- 
ricas,  she  extended  her  hand  to  him  in  greeting. 

There  is  a  saying  among  the  Negroes  to  the  ef- 
fect that  "If  you  give  a  Negro  an  inch  he  will  take 
an  ell."  Whatever  may  be  the  meaning  of  that 
expression,  this  we  do  know,  that  when  Tiara 
gave  Ensal  one  hand,  he  deliberately — no,  we 
won't  make  the  offense  one  of  premeditation— he, 
without  deliberating  the  matter  at  all,  hastily 
took  not  only  more  of  the  hand  than  what  Tiara 
offered,  but  the  other  one  as  well. 

For  the  sake  of  EnsaPs  reputation  for  poise, 
already  a  little  shaken,  we  fear,  we  fain  would 
draw  the  curtain  just  here;  but  as  we  have  all 
along  sought  to  tell  the  whole  truth  about  matters 
herein  discussed,  we  will  have  to  allow  our  hero's 
reputation  to  take  care  of  itself  the  best  way  it 
can.v  Without  obtaining  any  more  consen*  than 
that  which  was  plainly  written  in  Tiara's  eyes, 


292  THE  HINDERED  HAND. 

and  without  any  pretense  at  delivering  any  one  of 
the  many  thousand  little  preliminary  speeches 
framed  for  the  occasion,  Ensal  bent  forward  and 
kissed  Tiara! 

Now  that  he  has  by  this  act  lost  favor  with  you, 
dear  reader,  we  shall  expose  him  to  the  utmost ! 

Dropping  one  of  Tiara's  hands,  an  arm  stole 
around  her  waist,  and  Ensal  kissed  her  again  and, 
sad  to  say,  again,  and,  vexing  thought,  again. 
And  to  cap  the  climax,  the  two  were  joyfully  mar- 
ried that  night,  and  on  the  next  day  set  out  for 
Africa,  to  provide  a  home  for  the  American  Ne- 
gro, should  the  demented  Eunice  prove  to  be  a 
wiser  prophet  than  the  hopeful,  irrepressible 
Earl;  should  the  good  people  of  America,  North 
and  South,  grow  busy,  confused  or  irresolute  and 
fail,  to  the  subversion  of  their  ideals,  to  firmly  en- 
trench the  Negro  in  his  political  rights,  the  denial 
of  which,  and  the  blight  incident  thereto,  more 
than  all  other  factors,  cause  the  Ethiopian  in 
America  to  feel  that  his  is  indeed  "The  Hindered 
Hand." 


NOTES  FOR  THE  SERIOUS. 


1.  The  author  of  THE  HINDERED  HAND  was  an 
eyewitness  of  the  driving  of  "Little  Henry"  to  his 
death  by  the  officers  of  the  law. 

2.  The  details  of  the  Maulville  burning  were 
given  the  author  by  an  eyewitness  of  the  tragedy, 
a  man  of  national  reputation  among  the  Negroes. 
Some  of  the  more  revolting  features  of  that  oc- 
currence have  been  suppressed  for  decency's  sake. 
We  would  have  been  glad  to  eliminate  all  of  the 
details,  but  they  have  entered  into  the  thought- 
life  of  the  Negroes,  and  their  influence  must  be 
taken  into  account. 

3.  The  experiences  of  Eunice  upon  being  as- 
signed to  membership  in  the  Negro  race  are  by  no 
means  overdrawn.  The  refined,  cultured  and  most 
highly  respected  young  woman  whose  actual  ex- 
periences form  the  groundwork  of  that  part  of 
the  story  was  not  only  thus  accosted  and  insulted 
by  a  white  man  of  the  order  indicated,  but  was 
actually  beaten  in  a  most  brutal  manner  and  fined 
fifteen  dollars  in  the  police  court. 

4.  The  following  statement  of  facts  lends  in- 
terest to  the  contention  of  one  of  the  characters 
of  THE  HINDERED  HAND,  to  the  effect  that  the  re^ 

(293) 


294  NOTES  FOR  THE  SERIOUS. 

pressionist  order  of  things  brings  forward,  by  its 
own  force  an  undesirable  type  of  officials. 

During  the  recent  presidential  campaign'  the 
repression  of  the  Negro  was  made  an  issue  in  the 
state  of  Tennessee. 

The  most  representative  audience  that  asse*m- 
bled  during  the  whole  campaign  in  the  State  was 
wrought  to  its  highest  pitch  of  enthusiasm  by 
the  following  outburst  of  eloquence  from  the 
Junior  Senator  of  that  state :  "The  man  that  does 
not  know  the  difference  between  a  white  man  and 
a  'nigger'  is  not  fit  to  be  President."  The  kind  of 
a  state  Legislature  begotten  by  a  campaign  in 
which  the  foregoing  remark  marked  the  highest 
level  of  the  discussion  so  far  as  the  popular  taste 
was  concerned,  may  be  judged  from  the  following 
comments  on  that  Legislature  after  it  adjourned: 

"There  were  many  men  in  the  last  Legislature 
upon  whose  faces  the  mark  of  incompetency  or 
worse  was  as  plain  as  the  noonday  sun." — The 
Nashville  American. 

"It  would  be  better  for  Tennessee  to  groan  on 
under  present  laws  and  let  the  Legislature  meet  no 
more  in  ten  years  if  it  were  possible  under  the 
Constitution." — Lebanon  Banner. 

"Mediocrity  was  in  the  saddle,  and  picayunish 
partisan  politics  held  the  center  of  the  boards." — 
Franklin  Review-Appeal. 

"The  Legislature  has  adjourned.  Many  praises 
unto  the  'Great  I  Am/  " — Murfreesboro  News- 
Banner. 


NOTES  FOR  THE  SERIOUS.  295 

'Throwing  bricks  at  the  Legislature  is  a  fa- 
vorite pastime,  but  really  a  brick  is  hardly  big 
enough  for  the  purpose. — Franklin  County  Truth. 

"In  our  opinion  the  present  Legislature  will  go 
down  in  history  as  the  most  incompetent  body  of 
lawmakers  that  ever  sat  in  the  capitol  of  Tennes- 
see."— Tullahoma  Guardian. 

"The  Tennessee  Legislature  has  adjourned  and 
perhaps  done  less  to  commend  itself  than  any  of 
its  predecessors." — Obion  Democrat. 

"The  people  elect  the  legislators  and  the  peo- 
ple are  responsible  for  the  character  of  men  they 
elect  and  send  to  Nashville  to  make  and  unmake 
laws.  We  know  the  Legislature  was  bad,  even 
miserable,  but  the  members  got  their  commissions 
from  the  people." — Gallatin  News. 

"The  weekly  press  of  the  state  is  almost  unan- 
imous in  its  condemnation  of  the  late  Legislature. 
*  As  we  have  said  before,  the  general  lit- 
tleness of  the  body,  its  petty  conduct  in  many  in- 
stances, its  trades  and  combinations,  the  autocrat- 
ic methods  of  self-seeking  members,  the  quarrels, 
the  cheap  declamations  and  intemperate  and  un- 
dignified and  unwarrantable  public  denunciations 
by  members  who  should  have  shown  a  better  sense 
of  dignity  and  decency,  the  dishonesty  in  juggling 
with  bills,  the  unreliability  of  promises — the  gen- 
eral record  and  conduct  of  the  body  marked  it  as 
unworthy  of  the  state  or  the  approval  of  the 
people.  What  man  of  established  reputation  would 
care  to  be  known  as  a  member  of  such  a  Legisla- 
ture as  the  one  recently  adjourned?" — The  Nash- 
ville American. 

These  comments  are  from  newspapers  of  the 
same  political  faith  as  the  Legislature. 


296  NOTES  FOR  THE  SERIOUS. 

5.  The  question  might  be  raised  as  to  whether 
the  conditions  set  forth  in  THE  HINDERED  HAND 
are  true  of  some  special  locality  or  are  general  in 
character. 

As  to  how  general  the  conditions  complained  of 
are  one  may  infer  from  the  following  editorial 
from  a  leading  Southern  newspaper,  which  never 
fails  in  defense  of  the  South  where  defense  is 
possible. 

"In  South  Carolina,  as  we  have  noted,  the  saf- 
est crime  is  the  crime  of  taking  human  life.  The 
conditions  are  the  same  in  almost  every  South- 
ern State.  Murder  and  violence  are  the  distin- 
guishing marks  of  our  present-day  civilization. 
We  do  not  enforce  the  law.  We  say  by  statute 
that  murder  must  be  punished  by  death,  and  mur- 
der is  rarely  punished  by  death,  or  rarely  pun- 
ished in  any  other  way  in  this  State,  and  in  any 
of  the  Southern  States,  except  where  the  murder- 
er is  colored,  or  is  poor  and  without  influence. 
Now  this  state  of  affairs  cannot  last  forever.  We 
have  grown  so  accustomed  to  the  failure  of  justice 
in  cases  where  human  life  is  taken  by  violence 
that  we  excuse  one  failure  and  another  until  it 
will  become  a  habit  and  the  strong  shall  prevail 
over  the  weak,  and  the  man  who  slays  his  brother 
shall  be  regarded  as  the  incarnation  of  power." — 
The  Charleston  News  and  Courier. 

6.  Since  the  recent  defeat  of  the  ultra  radical 
element  in  the  national  campaign,  there  has  been 
a  marked  improvement  as   to   the   more   violent 
manifestations  of  race  prejudice,  emphasizing  the 
fact  that  actual  political  power  can  procure  re- 
spect. 


NOTES  FOR  THE  SERIOUS.  297 

7.  It  must  never  be  concluded  by  those  interest- 
ed in  these  matters  that  the  mere  suppression  of 
mob  violence  approaches  a  solution  of  the  race 
problem.      The  programme  of  the  Negro  race, 
that  must  be  ever  kept  in  mind  as  a  factor  to  be 
dealt  with,  is  the  obtaining  of  all  the  rights  and 
privileges  accorded  by  the  State  to  other  Ameri- 
can citizens. 

8.  Acknowledgment  is  here  made  of  the  gener- 
ous aid  often  extended  the  Negro  race  in  its  efforts 
to  rise  by  the  liberal  element  among  the  whites  of 
the  South.     One  of  the  most  notable  achievements 
of  this  element  has  been  the  manner  in  which  they 
have  fought  off   the   attacks   of   the   repression- 
ists,    directed   against   the   education  of  the  Ne- 
groes in  the  public  school  systems  of  the  South, 
so  amply  provided  for  by  the  "Reconstruction" 
Governments. 

9.  The  overwhelmingly  predominant  sentiment 
of  the  American   Negroes   is  to  fight   out  their 
battles  on  these  shores.       The  assigning  of  the 
thoughts  of  the  race  to  the  uplift  of  Africa,  as 
affecting  the  situation  in  America,  must  be  taken 
more  as  the  dream  of  the  author  rather  than  as 
representing  any  considerable  responsible  senti- 
ment within  the  race,  which,  as  has  been  stated, 
seems  at  present    thoroughly    and    unqualifiedly 
American,  a  fact  that  must  never  be  overlooked 
by  those  seeking  to  deal  with  this  grave  question 
in  a  practical  manner. 

THE  AUTHOR. 


NOTES  TO  THE  THIRD  EDITION. 


1.  The    present    edition    of     "The     Hindered 
Hand"  differs  from  previous  editions  in  that  a  re- 
view of  Mr.  Thomas  Dixon's  "Leopard  Spots"  ap- 
pears in  former  editions  in  the  form  of  a  conver- 
sation between  two  of  the  characters  of  the  book, 
whereas  in  the  present  edition  the  review  is  more 
fully  given  in  an  article  appearing  in  the  rear  of 
this  book  after  the  closing  of  the  story. 

No  attempt  is  here  made  to  deal  with  Mr.  Dix- 
on's second  book  bearing  on  the  race  problem,  it 
being  the  hope  of  the  writer  to  give  that  matter 
serious  and  independent  attention. 

2.  In  spite  of  the  solemn    assurances    of   the 
writer  that  the  incidents  depicted  in  "The  Hin- 
dered Hand"  are  based  upon  actual  occurrences, 
there  has  appeared  here  and  there  a  slight  air  of 
questioning  with  regard  to  some  things  related. 
Particularly  does  it  seem  hard  to  believe  what  is 
told  of  the  manner  of  the  death  of  Bud  and  Foresta 
Harper.     The  writer  would  be  only  too  glad  if  he 
could  but  free  his  mind  of  the  knowledge  that 
the  picture  is  true  to  life  in  the  utmost  horrible 
detail.     The  Nashville  American,  one  of  the  lead- 
ing Southern  daily  papers,  at  the  time  of  its  occur- 
rence, accepted  the  account  as  we  have  given  it  as 

(-298) 


NOTES  TO  THE  THIRD  EDITION.  299 

correct  and  made  editorial  comment  upon  the 
same,  and  no  one  would  dare  pronounce  that  pa- 
per hostile  to  the  South. 

We  stand  ready  to  furnish  ample  evidence  of 
the  absolute  correctness  of  each  and  every  por- 
trayal to  be  found  in  "The  Hindered  Hand." 

SUTTON  E.  GRIGGS, 
No.  610  Webster  St.,  Nashville,  Tenn. 


A  HINDERING  HAND 


SUPPLEMENTARY  TO  THE 
HINDERED   HAND. 


A    Review    of  the    Anti-Negro    Crusade  of  Air. 
Thomas  Dixon,  Jr. 


A  HINDERING  HAND. 


THE  POOR  WHITE  AND  THE  NEGRO. 

From  the  door  of  a  squalid  home,  situated  may- 
haps  upon  a  somewhat  decent  spot  in  a  marsh  or 
upon  the  very  poorest  of  soil,  the  poor  white  man 
of  the  South,  prior  to  his  emancipation  by  the 
Civil  War,  looked  out  upon  a  world  whose  honors 
and  emoluments  cast  no  favoring  glances  in  his 
direction. 

Between  the  poor  white  and  his  every  earthly 
hope  stood  the  Negro  slave.  As  his  thoughts 
now  and  then  stole  upward  toward  the  higher  so- 
cial circles,  he  realized  that  the  absence  of  slave 
quarters  from  his  home  entailed  his  absence  from 
those  upper  realms.  If  in  the  marts  of  toil  he  of- 
fered the  labor  of  his  hands,  he  felt  his  cheeks 
tingling  from  the  consciousness  that  others  re- 
garded him  as  being  upon  a  level  with  slaves ;  and 
at  the  best  the  market  for  his  labor  was  very  lim- 
ited, for  the  fatted  slave  stood  in  his  way. 

So  utterly  forlorn  was  the  condition  of  the  poor 
white  that  the  enslaved  Negro  felt  justified  in 
meeting  his  protruding  claim  of  racial  superiority 
with  contemptuous  scorn.  In  the  very  nature 
of  things  the  strongest  sort  of  repulsion  de- 
veloped between  this  class  of  whites  and  the  Ne- 

(303) 


304  A  HINDERING  HAND. 

gro  slaves.  The  work,  therefore,  of  overseeing 
and  driving  the  slaves  on  the  plantations  of  the 
more  wealthy  whites,  fitted  the  habitual  mood 
of  the  poor  white  exactly.  No  form  of  service 
was  more  congenial  to  him  than  that  of  whipping 
intractable  Negroes  for  their  masters. 

It  thus  came  to  pass  that  the  poor  white  man 
registered  it  as  his  first  duty  to  wreak  vengeance 
upon  this  unbowing,  scornful  Negro  standing  be- 
tween him  and  all  that  was  dear  to  his  heart.  This 
feeling  of  hostility  was  handed  over  from  father 
to  son,  from  generation  to  generation,  until  the 
very  social  atmosphere  was  charged  with  this  bit- 
ter feeling. 

When  the  Civil  War  came  this  neglected  and 
despised  class  suddenly  became  important  and 
furnished  its  quota  of  soldiers  and  commanders. 
Nathan  Bedford  Forrest  hailed  from  this  class, 
and  as  a  result  the  American  people  have  on  their 
annals  Fort  Pillow  and  its  savage-like  massacre. 
When  the  wrar  was  over,  the  poor  white  class  be- 
gan to  bestir  itself  in  civil  life,  and  from  that 
class  the  nation  derived  the  Hon.  Benjamin  R. 
Tillman,  of  South  Carolina. 

And  now  literature  is  receiving  its  contribution 
from  this  class  of  whites,  in  the  work  being  done 
by  Mr.  Thomas  Dixon,  Jr.,  of  North  Carolina, 
who  does  not  hail  from  the  more  wealthy  and 
more  friendly  element  of  Southern  whites,  but 
from  mingling  with  the  poorer  classes,  where 
hatred  of  the  Negro  was  a  part  of  the  legacy 


A  HINDERING  HAND.  305 

handed  down  from  parent  to  child.  For,  before 
Mr.  Dixon's  marriage  he  was  a  poor  man  and 
was  viewed  by  the  Negroes  of  Raleigh,  N.  C., 
as  one  belonging  to  the  class  of  their  hereditary 
enemies.  It  is  with  the  outpourings  of  a  man 
who  has  been  steeped  in  all  the  traditions  of  this 
hostile  atmosphere  that  we  are  now  called  upon 
to  'deal. 

The  goal  toward  which  Mr.  Dixon  is  striving 
is  the  ejection  from  America  of  nearly  ten  million 
of  his  fellow  citizens,  against  the  overwhelming 
majority  of  whom  he  can  allege  no  unusual  of- 
fense save  that  they  are  of  African  descent. 

The  work  of  their  fathers  and  of  themselves  in 
wresting  the  fields  of  the  South  from  the  clutch  of 
forest;  in  crimsoning  American  soil  with  their 
blood  in  every  war  that  has  been  fought ;  in  yield- 
ing of  all  of  the  best  of  their  heart  and  mind  for 
this  country's  good  is,  according  to  Mr.  Dixon,  to 
count  for  naught. 

HARNESSING  HATRED. 

It  is  to  be  conceded  that  the  presence  in  large 
numbers  of  two  distinct  races  in  the  same  terri- 
tory under  a  democratic  form  of  government  con- 
stitutes a  grave  problem,  and  profound  is  the  wish 
of  many  of  both  races  that  a  separation  might  be 
effected.  Mr.  Dixon  is  by  no  means  a  pioneer  in 
desiring  a  separation.  The  great  emancipator 
desired  this  result. 

But  Mr.  Dixon  is  a  pioneer  in  the  matter  of 
seeking  to  attain  his  end  by  an  attempt  to  thor- 


306  A  HINDERING  HAND. 

oughly  discredit  the  Negroes,  to  stir  up  the  baser 
passions  of  men  against  them  and  to  send  them 
forth  with  a  load  of  obloquy  and  the  withering 
scorn  of  their  fellows  the  world  over,  sufficient  to 
appall  a  nation  of  angels. 

Mark  the  essentially  barbarous  character  of 
Mr.  Dixon's  method  of  warfare. 

There  is  the  good  and  the  bad  in  all  men.  The 
world  has  learned  since  the  days  of  the  Christ  that 
by  far  the  best  means  of  obtaining  the  largest  re- 
sults of  unalloyed  good  is  by  appealing  to  the  best 
that  there  is  in  men  rather  than  to  the  worst.  In 
no  respect  is  the  reactionary  character  of  Mr. 
Dixon's  crusade  more  apparent  than  in  his  at- 
tempt to  attain  his  ends  through  his  appeals  to  the 
worst  that  there  is  in  men. 

Mankind  has  been  grouping  itself  from  time 
immemorial,  according  to  certain  physical  like- 
nesses, and  each  race  or  group  has  had  more  or 
less  of  prejudice  against  alien  groups.  It  has 
been  the  one  struggle  of  the  higher  human  in- 
stincts to  enable  men,  in  spite  of  differences  of 
form,  of  feature,  to  find  a  common  bond  of  sym- 
pathy linking  mankind  together. 

Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  grappled  in  the  mire  of 
Southern  slavery  and  lifted  a  despised  and  help- 
less race  into  living  sympathy  with  the  white  race 
at  the  North.  To  cut  these  chords  of  sympathy 
and  re-establish  the  old  order  of  repulsion,  based 
upon  the  primitive  feeling  of  race  hatred  is  the 
first  item  on  Mr.  Dixon's  programme. 


A  HINDERING  HAND.  307 

The  adopting  of  a  course  so  patently  barbaric 
stamps  Mr.  Dixon  as  a  spiritual  reversion  to  type, 
violently  out  of  accord  with  the  best  tendencies  of 
his  times. 

The  very  opposite  of  Mr.  Dixon  is  Professor 
Nathaniel  F.  Shaler,  of  Harvard,  himself  a  South- 
erner, who  approaches  this  same  grave  question 
of  the  relation  of  the  races  and  seeks  to  prepare 
the  American  people  for  the  consideration  of  the 
subject  free  from  the  distorting  influence  of  prej- 
udice. 

A  SERIOUS  HANDICAP. 

The  cultivation  of  race  hatreds  on  the  part  of 
Mr.  Dixon  and  others  who  labor  with  him,  if  suc- 
cessful will  react  on  the  American  people  sadly 
to  their  detriment.  The  wonderful  activity  of 
American  industries  call  loudly  for  the  world  as 
a  market  for  their  goods.  The  dark  races  of  the 
world,  now  backward  in  the  matter  of  manufac- 
turing, must  largely  furnish  these  markets.  The 
cloven  foot  of  America's  race  prejudice  will 
make  itself  manifest,  and  its  owner  will  find  it  in- 
creasingly difficult  to  secure  a  ready  purchaser 
for  his  goods. 

We  have  a  hint  of  what  will  happen  in  the 
awakened  darker  world  in  the  boycott  of  Ameri- 
can goods  by  the  Chinese,  because  of  the  rude 
treatment  by  American  custom  officials,  of  un- 
offending Chinese,  a  treatment  born  of  the  spirit 
^f  race  hatred. 


308  A  HINDERING  HAND. 

MR.  DIXON  IS  SHREWD. 

Let  us  now  take  note  of  the  various  artifices  re- 
sorted to  by  Mr.  Dixon  to  unhorse  the  Negro  in 
the  esteem  of  the  North  and  bestow  his  place  upon 
those  who  would  repress  him. 

In  his  first  Anti-Negro  book,  Mr.  Dixon  was 
shrewd  enough  not  to  make  a  Southerner  who 
was  persona  non  grata  to  the  North  the  hero  of 
the  story.  The  poor  old  Ex-Confederate  soldier, 
rank  secessionist,  the  real  hero  and  dominating 
figure  of  his  times,  in  this  book  is  tied  out  in  the 
back  yard,  while  the  post  of  honor  is  given  to  a 
little  boy  whose  father  fought  most  unwillingly 
against  the  Union.  Mr.  Dixon's  choosing  for  a 
hero  this  lad,  whose  father  wore  a  confederate 
uniform  over  a  union  heart,  forcibly  reminds  one 
of  the  reply  of  the  whimpering  soldier  whom  the 
captain  was  upbraiding  for  cowardice  under  fire. 

"You  act  as  though  you  were  a  baby,"  angrily 
shouted  the  captain  to  the  frightened  soldier. 

"I  wish  I  was  a  baby  and  a  gal  baby  at  that/' 
whimpered  the  soldier,  reasoning  that  "gal 
babies"  were  exempt  not  only  from  that  battle, 
but  from  all  others. 

While  Mr.  Dixon  was  in  search  of  a  hero  that 
would  be  far  .removed  from  what  was  regarded  as 
treason  in  those  days  he  might  have  made  as- 
surance doubly  sure  by  doing  further  violence  to 
the  predominating  sentiment  of  the  day  by  mak- 
ing his  hero — not  his  heroine — a  "gal"  baby. 


A  HINDERING  HAND.  309 

MR.  DIXON  SCOFFS. 

One  of  the  brighest  pages  in  the  history  of  this 
nation  will  be  that  which  tells  the  story  of  those 
men  and  women  of  the  North,  who,  over  the  pro- 
tests of  loved  ones,  faced  the  ostracism  of  their 
kind  in  the  South  that  they  might  open  the  Ne- 
groes' eyes  to  the  hitherto  forbidden  glories  of 
modern  civilization  and  take  care  that  the  spirit- 
ual was  not  lost  sight  of  in  the  new  maze  of  world 
wonders.  Withered  indeed  must  be  the  soul  that 
could  scoff  at  such  moral  heroism,  and  yet  that  is 
just  what  Mr.  Dixon  does.  He  suggests  that  the 
people  who  produced  a  Washington  and  a  Jeffer- 
son hardly  needed  missionaries  to  perform  work 
among  the  Negroes  within  their  borders. 

But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  as  a  part  of 
the  propaganda  in  favor  of  retaining  the  Negro 
in  slavery,  the  white  people  of  the  South  thor- 
oughly committed  themselves  to  the  doctrine  of 
the  ineffaceable,  inherent  inferiority  of  the  Ne- 
gro, and  had  no  largeness  of  faith  in  his  possibili- 
ties along  lines  of  higher  culture.  It  is  evident, 
then,  that  if  salvation  was  to  come  at  all,  it  was 
to  come  from  a  source  that  deemed  such  an  out- 
come possible. 

THE  EARLIER  CHURCH  LIFE  OF  THE  NEGRO. 

Mr.  Dixon  essays  to  portray  Negro  worship 
and  makes  of  it  a  very  grotesque  affair. 

Over  against  Mr.  Dixon's  representation  of 
Negro  worship  as  a  heathenish  affair,  we  place 


A  HINDERING  HAND. 


the  old  plantation  melqdies  evolved  in  those  and 
earlier  days.  Charged  as  these  melodies  are  with 
true  religious  fervor,  they  stand  as  a  bulwark 
against  all  who  would  assail  these  earlier  gropings 
of  the  race  after  the  unknown  God.  Equally  mis- 
placed are  the  sneers  of  Mr.  Dixon  at  the  Negro 
minister.  The  center  of  the  whole  social  fabric 
erected  by  the  Negro  race  in  the  South  is  the  Ne- 
gro church,  and  to  the  zeal  and  power  of  the  un- 
tutored Negro  pastor  and  his  more  favored  suc- 
cessor is  this  success  due.  Subtract  from  the  as- 
sets of  the  Negro  race  those  things  placed  there 
through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Negro  minis- 
ter and  small  will  be  the  remnant. 

Again,  this  religion  and  this  minister  at  whom 
Mr.  Dixon  sneers,  are  really  responsible  for  the 
pacific  character  of  the  Negro  population  of  the 
South.  The  Negro  race  is  a  great  fighting  race. 
The  native  optimism  of  the  individual  soldier 
causing  him  to  discount  his  own  chances  of  being 
killed,  coupled  with  his  ability  to  be  lost  in  his 
enthusiasms,  make  the  Negro  very  effective  as  a 
soldier. 

Africa  has  been  one  great  battle  field  and  the 
internecine  strife  of  fighting  Africans  is  in  a 
measure  responsible  for  the  plight  of  the  Negro 
race  in  the  world,  ns  a  union  of  forces  could  have 
the  better  halted  alien  aggression.  But  in  Ameri- 
ca the  Negro  was  taught  the  Gospel  of  peace.  The 
singing  of  the  American  Negro  is  said  to  lack  the 
martial  strain  found  in  the  fatherland.  For  the 


A  HINDERING  HAND.  3ll 

peace  loving  Negro,  credit  the  church  and  the  Ne- 
gro minister,  whom  Mr.  Dixon  would  have  the 
world  contemn. 

MR.  DIXON  STABS  TO  KILL. 

The  late  Hon.  George  F.  Hoar,  of  Massachu- 
setts, once  remarked  (we  quote  from  memory), 
"Our  population  is  composed  of  various  races  of 
mankind,  but  there  are  four  great  things  upon 
which  we  are  all  united :  Love  of  home,  love  of 
country,  love  of  liberty  and  love  of  woman."  The 
glory  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  has  come  largely 
of  the  estimate  it  has  placed  on  woman. 

Mr.  Dixon  would  break  the  accord  of  the  Ameri- 
can Negro  with  the  rest  of  his  fellows  by  pictur- 
ing him  as  the  savage  enemy  of  womankind.  In 
order  to  attain  his  end  he  picks  up  the  degenerates 
within  the  Negro  race  and  exploits  them  as  the 
normal  type.  In  one  of  his  books  Mr.  Dixon 
makes  a  Negro  school  commissioner  solicit  a  kiss 
from  a  white  girl  when  she  applies  to  him  for  a 
position.  The  man  of  this  character  in  the  Negro 
race  is  known  of  all  men  familiar  with  the  South- 
ern Negro  to  be  an  exotic,  for  nowrhere  in  the 
world  does  woman  get  more  instinctive  deference 
from  men  than  what  Negro  men  render  to  the 
white  women  of  the  South.  The  very  fact  that 
degenerates  sometimes  make  them  the  objects  of 
assaults,  invests  them  with  a  double  measure  of 
sympathy  and  deference  on  the  part  of  the  great 
body  of  Negro  men. 


o!2  A  HINDERING  HAND. 

WHERE  MR.  DIXON'S  POWER  FAILS. 

Mr.  Dixon  displays  great  power  in  depicting 
the  emotions  of  the  white  people  when  the  news 
was  borne  to  them  that  a  little  white  girl  had  been 
outraged  and  slain  by  a  Negro. 

Mr.  Dixon,  there  were  other  hearts  throbbing 
in  that  neighborhood !  Oh,  that  you  had  the  spirit 
and  the  power  to  give  utterance  to  those  heart 
throbs. 

The  Negroes,  whose  absence  from  the  mob  you 
would  ascribe  to  sympathy  with  the  criminal, 
were  in  their  homes  sorrowing  over  the  death  of 
the  little  one,  sorrowing  over  the  disgrace  that 
was  so  undeservingly  brought  upon  the  race,  and 
wondering  whether  your  mob  had  the  right  man 
or  was  making  a  mistake  that  would  leave  the 
really  guilty  free  to  again  bring  death  and  grief 
and  wrath  to  the  white  race  and  grief  and  shame 
unspeakable  to  the  Negro  race. 

AS  TO   INTERMARRIAGE. 

Not  content  with  picturing  the  Negro  race,  as 
a  race  prolific  with  the  assaulters  of  women,  Mr. 
Dixon  would  further  have  the  world  believe  that 
the  highest  ambition  of  the  cultured  Negro  man 
is  to  find  for  himself  a  white  wife. 

Perhaps  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  just  here  for 
the  writer  to  disclose  what  he  considers,  from 
close  observation,  to  be  the  attitude  of  the  Ne- 
groes on  the  question  of  the  intermarriage  of  the 
races.  They  do  not  hold  with  that  group  of  writers 


A  HINDERING  HAND.  313 

who  contend  that  the  Negro  is  inherently  inferior 
to  the  whites  and  that  a  mixture  of  the  blood  of  the 
races  produces  an  essentially  inferior  being. 
Dumas,  holding  his  own  among  the  French; 
Browning  and  S.  Coleridge-Taylor  among  the 
English,  and  Douglass,  among  the  Americans,  to 
their  minds  belie  that  assertion.  Nor  yet  do  they 
hold  that  the  races  must  needs  depend  upon  this 
infusion  for  its  greatness.  The  unmixed  Tous- 
saint  L'Ouverture,  Paul  Laurence  Dunbar  and  J. 
C.  Price  speak  up  for  the  innate  powers  of  the 
race. 

Accepting  the  race  as  it  came  to  them  from 
slavery,  during  which  mulattoism  was  forced 
upon  it,  the  Negroes  have  gone  on  developing  race 
pride  and  visiting  their  supreme  disfavor  upon 
all  who  signify  inability  to  find  thorough  con- 
tentment within  the  race.  The  marriage  of 
Frederick  Douglass  to  a  white  woman  created  a 
great  gulf  between  himself  and  his  people,  and 
it  is  said  that  so  great  was  the  alienation  that  Mr. 
Douglass  was  never  afterwards  the  orator  that  he 
had  been.  The  delicate  network  of  wires  over 
which  the  inner  soul  conveys  itself  to  the  hearts 
of  its  hearers  was  totally  disarranged  by  that 
marriage. 

PRIDE  OF  RACE. 

It  was  this  feeling  of  race  pride  which  the  Ne- 
groes have  and  thoroughly  understand,  that  Mr. 
Dixon  was  picturing  in  that  Northern  statesman 
who  would  not  give  his  daughter  in  marriage  to 


314  A  HINDERING  HAND. 

a  Negro  suitor  who  was  his  political  ally.  This 
pride  of  race  Mr.  Dixon  confounds  with  the  prej- 
udice which  he  would  glorify.  How  utterly  ab- 
surd it  is  to  infer  that  it  is  inconsistent  in  a  father 
to  apply  a  totally  different  test  to  a  man  aspiring 
to  be  his  son-in-law  to  that  applied  to  a  man  ask- 
ing for  political  rights!  The  rejection  of  a  man 
because  he  lacks  generations  of  approved  blood 
behind  him  is  classed  by  Mr.  Dixon  as  race  dis- 
crimination, whereas  such  rejections  are  daily 
made  for  similar  reasons  within  all  civilized  races. 

BACKWARD  AFRICA. 

In  his  eager  grasping  after  anything  that  would 
seem  to  serve  his  purpose  of  thoroughly  discred- 
iting the  Negro,  Mr.  Dixon  holds  up  the  back- 
wardness of  Africa  as  an  indication  of  the  inher- 
ent inefficiency  of  the  Negro  race.  The  life  of 
the  great  body  of  the  Negro  race  has  been  cast 
for  untold  centuries  in  Africa.  This  one  simple 
fact  has  meant  and  still  means  so  much.  The  pe- 
culiar character  of  the  African  coast,  lacking  as 
it  is  in  great  indentations,  the  immense  falls  pre- 
venting entrance  into  its  greatest  river,  the  Congo 
— these  things  have  caused  Africans  to  be  more 
nearly  isolated  from  the  rest  of  humanity  than 
has  been  the  case  with  any  other  large  body  of 
people.  With  isolation  and  lack  of  contact  the 
Negroes  have  been  compelled  to  rely  upon  their 
own  narrow  set  of  ideas,  while  the  progress  of 


A  HINDERING  HAND.  315 

other  peoples  has  been  the  result  of  the  union  of 
what  they  begot  with  what  strangers  brought 
them. 

The  soil  of  Africa  fed  the  Negroes  so  bounti- 
fully that  they  did  not  acquire  the  habit  of  in- 
dustry, and  with  a  plenty  of  time  on  their  hands 
they  warred  incessantly.  The  hot,  humid  atmos- 
phere made  them  black  and  sapped  their  energies. 
To  save  them  from  yellow  fever,  nature  gave  them 
pigment  and  lost  them  friends.  Other  peoples 
have  hesitated  to  intermarry  with  them  because 
of  their  rather  unfavorable  showing  in  personal 
appearance. 

Some  hold  that  a  race  is  great  in  proportion  to 
the  distance  it  has  wandered  through  intermar- 
riage from  the  parent  stock.  The  great  races  of 
the  world,  it  is  held,  are  the  mixed  races.  When 
the  Africans'  environments  robbed  them  of  come- 
liness and  attractive  qualities,  they  were  thrown 
off  to  their  own  one  blood,  no  one  courting  alli- 
ance with  them. 

The  merest  tyro  of  a  sociologist  knows  that 
these  are  the  essential  facts  which  account  for 
the  backwardness  of  the  African  people,  and  yet 
Mr.  Dixon  would  fasten  upon  Negroes  the  charge 
of  inherent  inferiority  because  of  the  showing 
made  under  circumstances  most  adverse  to  the  de- 
velopment of  civilization. 

RECONSTRUCTION  DAYS. 

The  most  pathetic  page  in  the  history  of  the 
Negro  race  in  America  is  the  story  of  reconstruc- 


316  A  HINDERING  HAND. 

tion  days.  Kept  in  ignorance  during  the  days  Of 
slavery  his  one  great  desire  under  freedom  was 
for  knowledge  and  self-improvement.  Because  the 
white  South  was  spiritually  unprepared  to  deal 
with  the  new  order  of  things,  and  because  the 
North  did  not  desire  to  make  one  great  military 
camp  of  the  South,  the  Negroes  en  masse  were 
summoned  forthwith  to  the  task  of  establishing 
governments  in  the  Southern  states  in  harmony 
with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  The 
men  whom  the  Negroes  supported  accomplished 
that  task  well,  but  in  other  respects  betrayed  their 
trusts. 

When  corruption  in  office,  a  thing  by  no  means 
confined  to  one  era  of  the  world's  history,  became 
manifest,  in  many  quarters  an  appeal  was  made 
to  the  Negroes  to  help  overturn  the  corruptionists. 
And  be  it  said  to  the  honor  of  the  race,  the  cry 
for  good  government  never  failed  to  rally  Negro 
support,  even  at  a  great  sacrifice.  When  Wade 
Hampton  was  struggling  for  the  dethronement  of 
corrupt  governments  in  South  Carolina,  six  thou- 
sand Negroes  took  part  in  one  of  the  parades  dur- 
ing his  canvass  for  the  governorship. 

But  some  states  did  not  have  leaders  prepared 
to  deal  with  the  Negroes  as  political  equals,  lead- 
ers who  were  wise  enough  to  appeal  to  the  good 
within  the  race.  In  such  places  the  unreasoning, 
undiscriminating,  brutal,  murderous  mobs  arose 
to  do  by  violence  what  better  and  wiser  men  had 
done  elsewhere  through  moral  suasion.  Had  en- 


A  HINDERING  HAND.  317 

lightened  methods  been  employed  the  sky  would 
not  have  been  as  portentous  as  it  is  to-day.  As 
it  is,  we  have  the  sickening  record  of  the  atrocities 
of  the  Ku  Klux  Klan  and  the  heritage  of  evil 
and  lawlessness  left  in  its  wake, 

Over  against  Mr.  Dixon's  lurid  and  grossly  mis- 
leading pictures  of  the  conduct  of  the  Negroes  in 
reconstruction  days,  we  offer  the  following  tribute 
to  the  race,  clipped  from  the  columns  of  the  Nash- 
ville Banner,  perhaps  the  most  widely  read  daily 
newspaper  in  the  state  of  Tennessee,  and  a  paper 
opposed  to  the  reconstruction  policy  pursued  by 
the  federal  government : 

"Let  us  do  the  negroes  justice.  There  is  no 
spirit  of  bloodthirsty  and  incendiary  revolt  pre^- 
vailing  among  them.  History  and  experience 
have  shown  that  there  never  existed  a  more  tract- 
able people  considering  all  the  trying  conditions 
and  circumstances  to  which  they  have  been  sub- 
jected. In  time  of  war  and  in  the  frightful  re- 
construction period,  when  they  were  urged  and 
tempted  by  false  friends  and  incentives  and  had 
opportunities  of  evil  appalling  to  contemplate, 
they  were  .restrained  as  perhaps  no  other  people 
would  have  been  restrained  and  were  more  sinned 
against  than  sinning.  And  to-day  as  a  people 
they  have  no  mind  except  to  accept  the  best  that 
may  come  to  them." 

MR.  DIXON  VS.  HON.  JAMES  G.  ELAINE. 
Mr.   Dixon's  hope  is   evidently  in  the  young 
North.     That  the  young  people  may  not  be  wed- 
ded to  the  traditions  of  their  section,  lie  would 
impress  the  young  North  that  what  their  fathers 


318  A  HINDERING  HAND. 

did  in  the  way  of  bestowing  equality  of  citizen- 
ship upon  the  Negro,  was  the  result  of  a  leader- 
ship blind  with  the  spirit  of  revenge.  As  a  com- 
plete rebuttal  to  this  contention  on  his  part,  we 
quote  from  an  article  which  appeared  in  the  North 
American  Review  from  the  pen  of  the  late  Hon.- 
James  G.  Elaine: 

"It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Republicans 
were  urged  and  hastened  to  measures  of  ameliora- 
tion for  the  Negro  by  very  dangerous  develop- 
ments in  the  Southern  States  looking  to  his  re- 
enslavement  in  fact,  if  not  in  form.  The  year 
that  followed  the  accession  of  Andrew  Johnson  to 
the  presidency  was  full  of  anxiety  and  warning 
to  all  the  lovers  of  justice,  to  all  who  hoped  for  'a 
more  perfect  union'  of  the  States.  In  nearly  every 
one  of  the  Confederate  States  the  white  inhabit- 
ants assumed  that  they  were  to  be  restored  to  the 
Union  with  their  State  governments  precisely  as 
they  were  when  they  seceded  in  1861,  and  that  the 
organic  change  created  by  the  Thirteenth  Amend- 
ment might  be  practically  set  aside  by  State  legis- 
lation. In  this  belief  they  exhibited  their  policy 
towards  the  Negro.  Considering  all  the  circum- 
stances, it  would  be  hard  to  find  in  history  a  more 
causeless  and  cruel  oppression  of  a  whole  race 
than  was  embodied  in  the  legislation  of  those  re- 
vived and  reconstructed  State  governments.  Their 
membership  was  composed  wholly  of  the  'ruling 
class/  as  they  termed  it,  and,  in  no  small  degree, 
of  Confederate  officers  below  the  rank  of  briga- 
dier-general, who  sat  in  the  legislature  in  the  very 
uniforms  which  had  distinguished  them  as  ene- 
mies of  the  Union  upon  the  battlefield.  Limited 
space  forbids  my  transcribing  the  black  code 
wherewith  they  loaded  their  statute  books.  In 


A  HINDERING  HAND.  319 

Mr.  Lamar's  State  the  Negroes  were  forbidden, 
under  very  severe  penalties,  to  keep  firearms  of 
any  kind;  they  were  apprenticed,  if  minors,  to 
labor,  preference  being  given  by  the  statute  to 
their  'former  owners;'  grown  men  and  women 
were  compelled  to  let  their  labor  by  contract,  the 
decision  of  whose  terms  was  wholly  in  the  hands 
of  the  whites;  and  those  who  failed  to  contract 
were  to  be  seized  as  Vagrants/  heavily  fined,  and 
their  labor  sold  by  the  sheriff  at  public  outcry  to 
the  highest  bidder.  The  terms  'master'  and  'mis- 
tress' continually  recur  in  the  statutes,  and  the 
slavery  that  was  thus  instituted  was  a  far  more 
degrading,  merciless  and  mercenary  than  that 
which  was  blotted  out  by  the  Thirteenth  Amend- 
ment. 

"South  Carolina,  whose  moderation  and  justice 
are  so  highly  prized  by  Governor  Hampton,  enact- 
ed a  code  still  more  cruel  than  that  I  have  quoted 
from  Mississippi.  Firearms  were  forbidden  to 
the  Negro,  and  any  .violation  of  the  statute  was 
punished  by  'fine  equal  to  twice  the  value  of  the 
weapon  so  unlawfully  kept/  and  'if  th?J:  be  not  im- 
mediately paid,  by  corporal  punishment.'  It  was 
further  provided  that  'no  person  of  color  shall 
pursue  or  practice  the  art,  trade,  or  business  of 
an  artisan,  mechanic,  or  shopkeeper,  or  any  other 
trade  or  employment  (besides  that  of  husbandry  or 
that  of  a  servant  under  contract  for  labor) ,  until 
he  shall  have  obtained  a  license  from  the  judge  of 
the  district  court,  which  license  shall  be  good  for 
one  year  only.'  If  the  license  was  granted  to  the 
Negro  to  be  a  shopkeeper  or  peddler  he  was  com- 
pelled to  pay  $100  per  annum  for  it,  and  if  he  pur- 
sued the  rudest  mechanical  calling  he  could  do  so 
only  by  the  payment  of  a  license  fee  of  $10  per 
annum.  No  such  fees  were  exacted  of  the  whites, 


320  A  HINDERING  HAND. 

and  no  such  fee  of  free  blacks  during  the  era  of 
slavery.  The  Negro  was  thus  hedged  in  on  all 
sides ;  he  was  down,  and  he  was  to  be  kept  down, 
and  the  chivalric  race  that  denied  him  a  fair  and 
honest  competition  in  the  humblest  mechanical 
pursuit  was  loud  in  its  assertions  of  his  inferiority 
and  his  incompetency. 

"But  it  was  reserved  for  Louisiana  to  outdo 
both  South  Carolina  and  Mississippi  in  this  hor- 
rible legislation.  In  that  State  all  agricultural  la- 
borers were  compelled  to  make  labor  contracts 
during  the  first  ten  days  of  January  for  the  next 
year.  The  contract  was  made,  the  laborer  was 
not  to  be  allowed  to  leave  his  place  of  employment 
during  the  year  except  upon  conditions  not  likely 
to  happen  and  easily  prevented.  The  master  was 
allowed  to  make  deductions  from  the  servants' 
wages  for  injuries  done  to  'animals  and  agricul- 
tural implements  committed  to  his  care/  thus 
making  the  Negro  responsible  for  wear  and  tear. 
Deductions  were  to  be  made  for  'bad  or  negligent 
work,'  the  master  being  the  judge.  For  every 
act  of  'disobedience'  a  fine  of  $1  was  imposed  on 
the  offender,  disobedience  being  a  technical  term 
made  to  include,  besides  'neglect  of  duty'  and 
'leaving  home  without  permission,'  such  fearful 
offenses  as  'impudence,'  'swearing/  'indecent  lan- 
guage in  the  presence  of  the  employer,  his  family, 
or  agent/  or  'quarreling  or  fighting  with  one  an- 
other.' The  master  or  his  agent  might  assail  every 
ear  with  profaneness  aimed  at  the  Negro  man  and 
outrage  every  sentiment  of  decencv  in  the  foul 
language  addressed  to  the  Negro  women;  but  if 
one  of  the  helpless  creatures,  goaded  to  resistance 
and  crazed  under  tyranny,  should  answer  back 
with  impudence,  or  should  relieve  his  mind  with 
an  oath,  or  restore  indecency,  he  did  so  at  the  cost 


A  HINDERING  HAND,  321 

to  himself  of  $1  for  every  outburst.  The  'agent' 
referred  to  in  the  statute  is  the  well-known  over- 
seer of  the  cotton  region,  and  the  care  with  which 
the  lawmaker  of  Louisiana  provided  that  his  deli- 
cate ears  and  sensitive  nerves  should  not  be  of- 
fended with  an  oath  or  an  indecent  word  from  a 
Negro  will  be  appreciated  by  all  who  have  heard 
the  crack  of  the  whip  on  a  southern  plantation. 

"It  is  impossible  to  quote  all  the  hideous  pro- 
visions of  these  statutes  under  whose  operation 
the  Negro  would  have  been  relapsed  gradually  and 
surely  into  actual  and  admitted  slavery.  Kindred 
legislation  was  attempted  in  a  large  majority  of 
the  Confederate  States,  and  it  is  not  uncharitable 
or  illogical  to  assume  that  the  ultimate  re-enslave- 
ment of  the  race  was  the  fixed  design  of  those  who 
framed  the  law  and  of  those  who  attempted  to  en- 
force them. 

"I  am  not  speculating  as  to  what  would  have 
been  done  or  might  have  been  done  in  the  South- 
ern States  if  the  National  Government  had  not 
intervened.  I  have  quoted  what  actually  was 
done  by  legislatures  under  the  control  of  South- 
ern Democrats,  and  I  am  only  recalling  history 
when  I  say  that  those  outrages  against  human 
nature  were  upheld  by  the  Democratic  party  of 
the  country.  All  Democrats  whose  articles  I  am 
reviewing  were  in  various  uegrees,  active  or  pas- 
sive, principal  or  endorser,  parties  to  this  legis- 
lation; and  the  fixed  determination  of  the  Repub- 
lican party  to  thwart  and  destroy  it  called  down 
upon  its  head  all  the  anathemas  of  Democratic 
wrath.  But  it  was  just  at  this  point  in  our  his- 
tory when  the  Republican  party  was  compelled 
to  decide  whether  the  emancipated  slave  should 
be  protected  by  national  power  or  handed  ovrr 


322  A  HINDERING  HAND. 

to  his  late  master  to  be  dealt  with  in  the  spirit 
of  the  enactments  I  have  quoted. 

"To  restore  the  Union  on  a  safe  foundation,  and 
to  re-establish  law  and  promote  order,  to  insure 
justice  and  equal  rights  to  all,  the  Republican  party 
was  forced  to  its  reconstruction  policy.  To  hesi- 
tate in  its  adoption  was  to  invite  and  confirm 
the  statute  of  wrong  and  cruelty  to  which  I  have 
referred.  The  first  step  taken  was  to  submit  the 
Fourteenth  Amendment,  giving  citizenship  and 
civil  rights  to  the  Negro  and  forbidding  that  he 
be  counted  in  the  basis  of  representation  unless 
he  should  be  reckoned  among  the  voters.  The 
Southern  States  could  have  been  readily  read- 
mitted to  all  their  power  and  privileges  in  the 
Union  by  accepting  the  Fourteenth  Amendment, 
and  Negro  suffrage  would  not  have  been  forced 
upon  them.  The  gradual  and  conservative  meth- 
od of  training  the  Negro  for  franchise,  as  sug- 
gested and  approved  by  Governor  Hampton,  had 
many  advocates  among  the  Republicans  in  the 
North ;  and  though  in  my  judgment  it  would  have 
proved  delusive  and  impracticable,  it  was  quite 
within  the  power  of  the  South  to  secure  its  adop- 
tion or  at  least  its  trial. 

"But  the  States  lately  in  insurrection  rejected 
the  Fourteenth  Amendment  with  apparent  scorn 
and  defiance.  In  the  legislatures  of  Louisiana, 
Mississippi,  and  Florida  it  did  not  receive  a  sin- 
gle vote;  in  South  Carolina,  only  one  vote;  in 
Virginia,  only  one ;  in  Texas,  five  votes ;  in  Arkan- 
sas, two  votes;  in  Alabama,  ten;  in  North  Caro- 
lina, eleven,  and  in  Georgia,  where  Mr.  Stephens 
boasts  that  they  gave  the  Negro  suffrage  in  ad- 
vance of  the  Fifteenth  Amendment,  only  two 
votes  could  be  found  in  favor  of  making  the  Ne- 
gro even  a  citizen.  It  would  have  been  more 


A  HINDERING  HAND.  323 

candid  in  Mr.  Stephens  if  he  had  stated  that  it 
was  the  legislature  assembled  under  the  recon- 
struction act  that  gave  suffrage  to  the  Negro  in 
Georgia,  and  that  the  unreconstructed  legisla- 
ture, which  has  his  endorsement  and  sympathies 
and  which  elected  him  to  the  United  States  Sen- 
ate, not  only  refused  suffrage  to  the  Negro  but 
loaded  him  with  grievous  disabilities  and  passed 
a  criminal  code  of  barbarous  severity  for  his  pun- 
ishment. 

"It  is  necessary  to  a  clear  apprehension  of  the 
needful  facts  in  this  discussion  to  remember 
events  in  the  proper  order  of  time.  The  Four- 
teenth Amendment  was  submitted  to  the  States 
June  13,  1866.  In  the  autumn  of  that  year,  or 
very  early  in  1867,  the  legislatures  of  all  the  in- 
surrectionary States,  except  Tennessee,  had  re- 
jected it.  Thus  and  then  the  question  was  forced 
upon  us,  whether  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  composed  wholly  of  men  who  had  been  loy- 
al to  the  Government,  or  the  legislatures  of  the 
rebel  states,  composed  wholly  of  men  who  had 
been  disloyal  to  the  Government,  should  deter- 
mine the  basis  on  which  their  relation  to  the 
Union  should  be  resumed.  In  such  a  crisis  the 
Republican  party  could  not  hesitate;  to  halt,  in- 
deed, would  have  been  an  abandonment  of  the 
principles  on  which  the  war  had  been  fought;  to 
surrender  to  the  rebel  legislatures  would  have 
been  cowardly  desertion  of  its  loyal  friends  and 
a  base  betrayal  of  the  Union  cause. 

"And  thus,  in  March,  1867,  after  and  because 
of  the  rejection  of  the  Fourteenth  Amendment  by 
Southern  legislatures,  Congress  passed  the  re- 
construction act.  This  was  the  origin  of  Negro 
suffrage.  The  southern  whites  knowingly  and 
willfully  brought  it  upon  themselves.  The  recon- 


324  A  HINDERING  HAND. 

struction  act  would  have  never  been  demanded 
had  the  Southern  States  accepted  the  Fourteenth 
Amendment  in  good  faith.  But  that  amendment 
contained  so  many  provisions  demanded  by  con- 
siderations of  great  national  policy  that  its 
adoption  became  an  absolute  necessity.  Those 
who  controlled  the  Federal  Government  would 
have  been  recreant  to  their  plainest  duty  had  they 
permitted  the  power  of  these  States  to  be  wielded 
by  disloyal  hands  against  the  measures  deemed 
essential  to  the  security  of  the  Union.  To  have 
destroyed  the  rebellion  on  the  battlefield  and  then 
permit  it  to  seize  the  power  of  eleven  States  and 
put  a  check  on  all  changes  in  the  organic  law  nec- 
essary to  prevent  future  rebellion  would  have 
been  a  weak  and  wicked  conclusion  to  the  grand- 
est contest  ever  waged  for  human  rights  and  for 
constitutional  liberty. 

"Negro  'suffrage  being  thus  made  a  necessity 
by  the  obduracy  of  those  who  were  in  control  of 
the  South,  it  became  a  subsequent  necessity  to 
adopt  the  Fifteenth  Amendment.  Nothing  could 
have  been  more  despicable  than  to  use  the  Negro 
to  secure  the  adoption  of  the  Fourteenth  Amend- 
ment and  then  to  leave  them  exposed  to  the  haz- 
ard of  losing  suffrage  whenever  those  who  had 
attempted  to  re-enslave  them  should  regain  poli- 
tical power  in  their  State.  Hence  the  Fifteenth 
Amendment,  which  never  pretended  to  guaran- 
tee universal  suffrage,  but  simply  forbade  that 
any  man  should  lose  his  vote  because  he  had 
once  been  a  slave,  or  because  his  face  might  be 
black,  or  because  his  remote  ancestors  came  from 
Africa." 

Thus  is  scattered  to  the  four  winds,  we  feel,  Mr. 


A  HINDERING  HAND.  325 

Dixon's  claim  that  the  Negro  suffrage  was  born 
of  the  spirit  of  revenge. 

MR.  DIXON'S  WIDE  HEARING. 

If  Mr.  Dixon  is  so  wholly  false  as  we  have  set 
forth  in  this  paper,  the  question  naturally  arises 
as  to  how  he  could  have  obtained  such  a  hearing 
as  has  been  accorded  him.  Of  the  many  factors 
which  perhaps  operated  to  secure  this  hearing  we 
shall  mention  a  few  that  commend  themselves  to 
us  as  possible  causes. 

In  the  first  place,  there  is  that  great  American 
spirit  of  fair  play.  The  Negro  through  Uncle 
Tom's  Cabin  and  the  Tourgee  novels  had  his  day 
in  court,  and  it  was  felt  to  be  only  just  that  the 
South  be  heard  in  all  fullness. 

Another  factor  in  Mr.  Dixon's  success  in  ob- 
taining his  hearing  we  believe  to  be  his  choice  of 
the  hour  in  the  world's  history  in  which  to  de- 
mand a  hearing.  Queen  Victoria,  who  had 
reigned  so  long  and  honorably,  had  just  sum- 
moned by  her  death  all  of  Anglo-Saxondom  to  her 
bier,  where  in  a  common  sorrow  over  the  depart- 
ure of  a  great  and  good  woman  they  learned 
anew  how  that,  fundamentally,  they  were  all 
about  alike. 

About  this  time,  too,  a  poet  had  arisen,  with 
voice  to  reach,  for  the  time  being,  at  least,  the 
whole  English  speaking  world,  furnishing  another 
scrap  of  evidence  that  differing  forms  of  govern- 
ment, wide  seas  and  varying  problems  had  not 
affected  their  spiritual  unity. 


326  A  HINDERING  HAND. 

Anglo-Saxon  lads,  peacefully  sleeping  in  the 
harbor  of  a  Latin  nation,  had  been  treacherously 
blown  up,  and  at  the  sight  of  that  which  was 
thicker  than  water  in  the  hold  of  the  Maine,  the 
Anglo-Saxons  of  the  world  got  still  closer  to- 
gether. 

In  the  war  that  followed,  the  South  had  its  first 
opportunity  of  attesting  with  its  blood  its  profes- 
sions of  love  for  the  Union  flag  which  it  had 
sought  to  lower  in  four  years  of  bloody  strife. 
As  a  result  of  that  war  the  Northern  and  control- 
ling section  of  the  country  felt  impelled  by  the 
logic  of  the  situation  to  force  an  unaccepted  re- 
lation upon  an  alien  race,  thereby  providing  the 
one  outstanding  section  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race 
with  some  form  of  a  race  problem. 

These  various  happenings  brought  the  English 
speaking  people  wondrously  close  together  and 
bridged  the  chasms  made  by  internecine  wars  and 
conflicting  ideas  of  government. 

Listen  now  to  the  dream  of  Thomas  Carlyle  as 
set  forth  in  his  lecture  on  "The  Hero"  as  a  poet. 
Says  he: 

"England,  before  long,  this  island  of  ours,  will 
hold  but  a  small  fraction  of  the  English;  in 
America,  in  New  Holland,  east  and  west  to  the 
very  antipodes,  there  will  be  a  great  Saxondom 
covering  great  spaces  of  the  globe.  And  now, 
what  is  it  that  can  keep  all  these  together  in  vir- 
tually one  nation,  so  that  they  do  rot  fall  out  and 
fierht,  but  live  at  peace,  in  brother-like  intercourse, 
helping  one  another?  This  is  justly  regarded  as 


A  HINDERING  HAND.  327 

the  greatest  practical  problem,  the  thing  all  man- 
ner of  sovereignties  and  governments  are  here 
to  accomplish:  what  is  it  that  will  accomplish 
this?  Acts  of  parliament,  administrative  prime- 
ministers  cannot.  America  is  parted  from  us,  so 
far  as  parliament  could  part  it.  Call  it  not  fan- 
tastic, for  there  is  much  reality  in  it ;  here,  I  say, 
is  an  English  king  whom  no  time  or  chance,  par- 
liament or  combination  of  parliaments,  can  de- 
throne! This  King  Shakespeare,  does  he  not 
shine,  in  crowned  sovereignty,  over  us  all,  as  the 
noblest,  gentlest,  yet  strongest  of  rallying  signs; 
indestructible ;  really  more  valuable  in  that  point 
of  view  than  any  other  means  or  appliance  what- 
soever? We  can  fancy  him  as  radiant  aloft  over 
all  the  nations  of  Englishmen,  a  thousand  years 
hence.  From  Parmatta,  from  New  York,  where- 
soever, under  what  sort  of  parish-constable  so- 
ever, English  men  and  women  are,  they  will  say 
to  one  another :  'Yes,  this  Shakespeare  is  ours,  we 
produced  him,  and  we  speak  and  think  by  him; 
we  are  of  one  blood  and  kind  with  him/  ' 

As  set  forth  here  the  travail  of  the  English 
heart  is  toward  a  unified  Saxondom,  and,  as 
indicated  above,  its  hour  had  come.  It  was  in 
the  hour  when  the  world  paused  in  awe  to  see  a 
fruition  of  this  dream,  that  Mr.  Dixon  asked — in- 
sisted upon  being  heard.  Anxious  to  know  upon 
what  terms  the  South  would  be  a  contented  mem- 
ber of  this  new  accord,  Mr.  Dixon,  essaying  to 
speak  for  the  South,  got  his  hearing. 

What  a  terrible  enemy  to  humanity  does  Mr. 
Dixon  prove  himself  to  be  when,  essaying  to 
speak  for  the  South,  he  would  impart  to  this 


328  A  HINDERING  HAND. 

mighty  force,  with  work  before  it  worthy  of  the 
gods,  a  larger  measure  of  the  virus  of  race  preju- 
dice. Rather,  may  this  unified  Saxondom,  as  the 
agent  of  that  "divinity  that  shapes  our  ends 
rough-hew  them  how  we  will,"  choose  the  opening 
hours  of  its  era  for  the  purging  from  its  great 
heart  all  the  lingering  vestiges  of  hatred  of 
men,  and  with  eyes  ever  on  the  heights  above, 
'begin  the  final  climb  of  the  human  race  toward 
the  ideal  state.  May  this  trumpet  call  to  a  great- 
ness of  soul  in  keeping  with  its  greatness  of  pow- 
er, supplant  the  voice  of  Dixon  the  hater,  summon- 
ing men  to  grovellings  in  the  valleys  of  a  thou- 
sand years  agone. 

MR.  DIXON'S  BORROWED  POWER. 

We  shall  now  make  mention  of  a  force  within 
Mr.  Dixon  which,  from  our  point  of  view,  enabled 
him  to  seize  the  passing  opportunity  and  chal- 
lenge the  attention  of  so  great  a  constituency. 
There  is  nothing  more  patent  to  an  observer  of 
life  in  the  South  than  the  fact  that  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  Negro  races  are  producing  in  each  oth- 
er modifications  of  many  of  their  racial  character- 
istics. The  erstwhile,  abounding  humor  of  the 
Negro  has  found  its  echo  in  the  white  race  of  the 
South  and  we  find  the  dignified  L.  Q.  C.  Lamar,  of 
Mississippi,  succeeded  in  his  grasp  upon  public 
attention  by  the  witty,  fun-loving  John  Sharp  Wil- 
liams, while  the  great  American  humorist,  Mark 
Twain  is  likewise  a  product  of  the  South. 


A  HINDERING  HAND.  329 

The  unquestioning  faith  of  the  Negro  in  the  Bi- 
ble is  largely  responsible  for  the  militant  ortho- 
doxy of  the  white  Christian  ministry  of  the  South, 
which  makes  life  miserable  for  any  mind  reHin- 
ing  and  applying  to  religious  matters  the  old 
Anglo-Saxon  habit  of  investigating.  "The  hand 
that  rocks  the  cradle  is  the  hand  that  rules  the 
world,"  even  if  that  hand  is  a  black  hand.  It  is 
the  boast  of  the  Southern  white  preacher  that  he 
was  nursed  by  a  black  mammy. 

Along  emotional  lines  there  is  appearing  a 
marked  difference  between  the  white  people  of 
the  South  and  those  of  the  North.  It  was  re- 
marked of  the  National  Democratic  Convention, 
held  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis  in  1904,  that  such  an 
emotional  convention  could  only  have  been  held 
somewhere  in  the  South.  The  Negro  race  is  noted 
for  its  highly  emotional  nature,  and  while  contact 
with  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  is  toning  it  down, 
there  is  also  evidence  that  the  Negro  race  is  af- 
fecting the  Anglo-Saxon. 

Now,  Mr.  Dixon's  publishers,  in  announcing  a 
second  book  from  his  pen,  singled  out  for  pur- 
poses of  parade  what  they  regarded  as  the  most 
powerful  element  in  his  work,  namely,  his  grasp 
upon  the  emotions  of  men,  his  ability  to  arouse 
and  sway  their  feelings.  In  the  long  line  of  men 
of  letters  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  we  find  no 
counterpart  of  Mr.  Dixon.  So  the  question  is 
very  pertinent  as  to  what  influence  has  given  pow- 
er to  this  pale-face  shout  exciter,  this  expert 


330  A  HINDERING  HAND. 

player  upon  men's  emotions,  this  literary  (we 
beg  a  thousand  pardons  for  seeming  billingsgate) 
demagogue  and  exotic  in  Anglo-Saxondom.  The 
irony  of  fate!  Mr.  Thomas  Dixon,  Jr.,  beyond 
doubt  owes  his  emotional  power  to  the  very  race 
which  he  has  elected  to  scourge. 

Mr.  Dixon  has  not  breathed  the  Negro  air  of 
emotionalism  without  being  affected  thereby. 
The  Negro  minister  whom  Mr.  Dixon  derides  in 
his  book  is  beyond  all  doubt  Mr.  Dixon's  spiritual 
parent  so  far  as  power  is  concerned.  The  fact 
that  Mr.  Dixon  has  chosen  the  discomfiture  of  the 
Negro  race  as  the  chief  end  of  his  existence  is 
not  inconsistent  with  the  fact  that  the  predomi- 
nating element  in  his  power  is  the  gift  of  that 
race.  It  is  perhaps  this  subconscious  feeling  on 
the  part  of  Mr.  Dixon  that  he  is  in  the  grasp  of 
a  power  not  Anglo-Saxon  that  causes  him  to 
rant  and  cry  for  a  freedom  that  his  own  Southern 
brethren  less  affected  do  not  understand. 

THE  REAL  PROBLEM. 

Ah,  good  people  of  America,  here  is  your  real 
problem!  Southern  self-interest  may  be  relied 
upon  to  keep  the  Negro  here;  being  here,  no  hu- 
man power  can  prevent  him  from  contributing 
his  quota  to  the  atmosphere  of  the  group  in  which 
all  the  sons  of  the  South  must  find  their  environ- 
ing inheritance.  In  the  contact  of  the  street 
workman  with  his  boss;  in  the  cook  kitchen;  in 
the  nursery  room;  in  the  concubine  chamber;  in 
the  street  song;  in  the  brothel;  in  the  philoso- 


A  HINDERING  HAND.  331 

phizings  of  the  minstrel  performer ;  in  the  litera- 
ture which  he  will  ere  long  create,  by  means  of 
which  there  can  be  contact  not  personal;  in 
myriad  ways  the  Negro  will  write  something 
upon  the  soul  of  the  white  man.  It  should  be  the 
care  of  the  American  people  that  he  write  well. 

Mr.  Dixon  trembles  at  a  possible  physical 
amalgamation  and  would  have  the  races  separ- 
ated. The  "nay"  which  the  nation  renders  to  his 
cause  so  badly  plead  makes  the  spiritual  amalga- 
mation a  certainty. 

That  the  contribution  of  the  Negro  to  the  com- 
ing composite  Americanism  may  be  of  the  highest 
quality  is  the  nation's  problem. 

Just  now  the  American  people  seem  much  en- 
grossed with  the  training  of  the  hand  of  the  Ne- 
gro, confessedly  a  work  of  tremendous  moment. 
But  be  it  known  unto  you,  oh  Americans,  that  it  is 
through  his  mind,  his  spirit,  the  exhalations  of  his 
soul,  his  dreams  or  lack  of  dreams,  that  the  Negro 
is  to  leave  his  most  marked  influence  on  American 
life.  Let  the  use  to  which  Mr.  Dixon  is  putting 
his  borrowed  emotional  power  recall  the  nation  to 
the  slumbering  Negro  mind  that  must  ere  long 
awake  to  power.  May  the  coming,  then,  of  Mr. 
Dixon,  the  literary  exotic,  serve  as  a  reminder  to 
the  American  people  that  they  give  the  Negro  a 
healthy  place,  a  helpful  atmosphere  in  which  to 
evolve  all  that  is  good  within  himself  and  elimi- 
nate all  the  bad.  If  this  be  done,  even  Mr.  Dixon 
will  not  have  lived  and  frothed  in  vain. 


332  A  HINDERING  HAND. 

A  FINAL  WORD. 

A  final  word  with  regard  to  Mr.  Dixon.  The 
appearance  of  such  a  man  with  such  a  spirit  might 
incline  one  to  think  that  the  world  is  going  back- 
ward rather  than  forward.  But  there  is  this  re- 
deeming thought.  Mr.  Dixon  represents  the  ultra 
radical  element  of  Southern  whites.  The  coming 
of  this  radical  of  radicals  before  the  bar  of  pub- 
lic opinion,  clothed  in  his  garb  of  avowed  preju- 
dice of  the  rankest  sort,  means  that  the  self-satis- 
fied isolation  of  the  past  is  over,  that  even  the  radi- 
cals desire  or  see  the  need  of  sympathetic  consid- 
eration from  other  portions  of  the  human  family 
— decidedly  a  step  forward  for  them.  The  com- 
ing to  the  light  of  this  type  where  civilization  may 
work  upon  it  is  in  this  respect  one  of  the  most 
hopeful  signs  of  America's  future.  Soberly  the 
great  world  consciousness  will  deal  with  this  ene- 
my of  the  human  race,  and  the  universal  finger  of 
scorn  that  will  surely  in  the  end  be  pointed  to- 
ward him  will  render  it  certain  that  no  other  like 
unto  him  shall  ever  arise. 

Tf,  when  his  services  are  in  demand,  the  chiseler 
of  the  epitaph  for  Mr.  Dixon's  tombstone  desires 
to  carve  words  that  will  be  read  with  patience  in 
the  coming  better  days  of  the  world,  let  him  carve 
thus: 

"This  misguided  soul  ignored  all  of  the  good  in 
the  aspiring  Negro;  made  every  vicious  offshoot 
that  he  -pictured  tynical  of  the  entire  race;  pre- 
sented all  mistakes  independent  of  their  environ- 


A  HINDERING  HAND.  333 

ments  and  provocations;  ignored  or  minimized  all 
the  evil  in  the  more  vicious  element  of  whites; 
said  and  did  all  things  which  he  deemed  necessary 
to  leave  behind  him  the  greatest  heritage  of 
hatred  the  world  has  ever  known.  Humanity 
claims  him  not  as  one  of  her  children." 

SUTTON  E.  GRIGGS. 


;-;-;-;6£a;e;e^ 


-OVERSHADOWED: 


A  Picture  of  the  Life  of  the  Negro  Race  in  its 
Tragic,  Unequal  Struggle  in  the  Southland. 


RT.  REV.  A.  WALTERS,     "'Overshadowed'  is  the  most 

Bishop  of  A.  M.  E.         interesting   book   it  has  been 

Zion  Church.  my     good  fortune  to  read   in 

many  a   day.     It  required   a 

well   developed   mind  to  write  such  a  book.      It  has 
my  unqualified  endorsement." 

"The  name  of  the  author  at    REV.  E.  C.  MORRIS,  D.  D., 
once  inspired  interest  in  the      President  National  Bap= 
volume,  and  I  read  it,  and  tist  Convention. 

while  it  deals  with  a  very  del- 
icate subject,  I  have  no  hesitancy  in  saying  that  it  is 
logical  and  chaste  in  every  detail.     It  can  be  trusted 
in  any  home." 

JOHN  E.BRUCE.      "No  book   yet  written  by  any  au- 
( Bruce  Grit.)         thor  portrays  more  strikingly  and 
truly  the  real  conditions,  political 
and  social,   which   environ  the  ^Negro  than    'Over- 
shadowed.'    If   'Overshadowed'   is  ever  dramatized, 
it  will  make  one  of  the  most    exciting  plays  ever 
written."  

Overshadowed,  217  Pages;  I2mo. 
Cloth  Edition,  $1.00;  postage  prepaid. 
Paper  Edition,  50c;  postage  prepaid. 


THE    ORIQR     PUBLISHING    COMPANY, 
Nashville,  Tennessee. 


"UNFETTERED." 


A  story  with  a  philosophical  bent  that  throws  a 
flood  of  light  on  the  whole  situation.  A  clear  voice 
from  the  inner  life  of  the  Negro  race,  showing  how 
the  Negro  views  his  own  problem.  Indicates  lines 
along  which  the  thoughtful  minds  of  the  race  feel 
that  salvation  is  to  come.  A  book  of  great  value  to 
all  interested  in  the  great  American  problem : 

The  Philadelphia  Press: 

'  Sutton  K.  Griggs,  who  wrote  a  rather  striking  book 
called  'Imperium  In  Imperio,'  has  produced  another  treat- 
ment of  the  Negro  problem  under  the  guise  ot  fiction, 
called  'Unfettered  .'  The  book  is  serious,  it  is  readable,  and 
it  is  thoughtful." 

The  Philadelphia  Daily  Telegraph : 

"The  book  in  question  has  many  elements  of  power;  it  is 
sincere,  deep,  forcible  and  very  much  in  earnest." 

The  New  York  World: 

"The  -writer's  utter  sincerity  maintains  for  him  and  his 
book  people  the  readers'  constant  interest  and  considera- 
tion." 

The  Chicago  Daily  News: 

"The  author  is   evidently  a  man  of  education,  who  has 
thought  long  a»d  deeply." 
Rev.  J.  G.   Merrill,    President  Fisk  University,  Nashville, 

Ttnnessee: 

"It  is  the  work  of  a  man  who  has  given  profound  study 
to  one  of  the  most  vital  problems  of  the  hour.  The  story 
is  interesting,  the  plot  novel,  and  the  outcome  pleasing." 
The  Examiner  (Neve  York): 

"Sutton  E.  Griggs,  author  of  several  books  on  the  Negro 
question  well  deserves  the  hearing  he  asks.  Those  who 
are  interested  in  this  problem  and  the  Negro's  way  of 
looking  at  it,  will  be  helped  by  Mr.  Griggs'  story,  'Un- 
fettered.'" 

The  Gazette  (Cleveland    O.)  : 

"Is  fascinating  in  the  extreme  and  will  hold  the  atten- 
tion of  any  reader  throughout." 

Unfettered,  I2mo.;  276  pages;  Cloth  Binding. 
Price,  $1.00,  postage  prepaid. 

THE    ORION    PUBLISHING    CO., 

Nashville,    Tennessee. 


THE  HINDERED  HAND. 


By  SUTTON  E.  6RI66S. 


BOOK  in  which  the  whole 
Southern  Situation  passes  in 
review  before  your  mind's-eye. 

The  most  complete 
The   most   thrilling      e# 
The      ablest     story 

<!> 

Yet  written  on  the  Southern  Situa- 
tion from  the  Negro's  point  of  view. 


All  Americans  and  others  interested 

in  the  Great  American  Problem 

should  read  this  book.  , 

Bound  in  Cloth,   J2mo.;  305   pages* 
Price,  $1.00.  Add  JOcts.  for  postage, 

THE  ORION  PUBLISHING   CO., 

Nashville,  Tennessee. 


OF    INTEREST    TO    ALL. 

We  make  a  specialty  of  all  books 
of  peculiar  interest  to  the  American 
people  bearing  upon  the  race  ques- 
tion in  the  United  States.  If  you 
have  seen  or  heard  of  any  such 
book  that  interests  you  and  would 
like  to  own  it,  order  the  same 
through  us. 

Such  books  as  we  do  not  publish 
ourselves  will  be  promptly  secured 
for  you. 

THE  ORION  PUBLISHING  CO., 
Nashville,   Tenn. 


• 


®m 


A  SpecialJ 
Offer. 


EYOND  all  question  Sut- 
ton  E.  Griggs  is  the  ac- 
cepted spokesman  in 
the  realm  of  fiction  of  the 
cultured,  aspiring  Negroes 
of  the  United  States.  Any 
library  of  American  litera- 
ture is  incomplete  without 
copies  of  Air.  Griggs'  books, 
which  bring  to  the  world  of 
letters  the  offering  of  the 
culture  of  the  Negro  race  in 
the  line  of  fiction.  Take 
note  of  our  special  offer: 

"Overshadowed"  -  $1.00 
"Unfettered"  -  -  -  1.00 
"The  Hindered  Hand"  1.00 

Total     -    -    -    $3.00 

To  persons  ordering  the 
three  works  at  one  time, 
$2.25. 

ADD  20  CENTS  FOR  POSTAGE. 


Orion  Publishing  Co., 

Nashville,   Tenn.  | 

!  -8 

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